Nghe An fines 254 fishing boat owners for violations after 4 months of peak campaign

Specifically, in Quynh Luu district, from mid-August 2024 to present, the district has fined 57 fishing boat owners/vehicles for violating the law of losing connection to the VMS route monitoring signal continuously for more than 6 hours to more than 10 hours while fishing. In total, since the beginning of the year, Quynh Luu district has fined 92 vehicle owners, with the fine amounting to 2.3 billion VND.

Similarly, based on verification, Hoang Mai town also verified and administratively fined 53 vehicle owners for the error of disconnecting the VMS route while fishing, with a fine of 1.3 billion VND. Next, in Dien Chau district, with the urging of the province and active advice from border guards, the district People's Committee also fined 6 fishing vehicle owners for the error of losing the VMS signal while fishing, with a total fine of 140 million VND.

Mr. Bui Xuan Truc - Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quynh Luu district said: The fishing vessels were fined for losing VMS connection before May 20, 2024, and if after this date, the fine will be higher.

In addition to the penalty decisions of the People's Committees of localities, according to Decree 38/2024/ND-CP, violations of disconnecting VMS after May 20, 2024, the effective date of this Decree, any fishing vessel that loses VMS signal while fishing or fishing in foreign waters will be subject to heavier penalties. Most recently, on November 21, 2024, the Border Guard Command of Nghe An province issued 5 decisions on administrative penalties with a fine of 780.5 million VND for 5 fishing vessel owners residing in Quynh Phuong ward, Hoang Mai town. Specifically, 2 vessel owners, Nguyen Van H and Phan Van M, were fined a record 158 million VND/vessel and 3 vessel owners, Hoang Minh H, Nguyen Van Th and Tran Quoc H, were fined 154.5 million VND/vessel. The main fault is not maintaining the VMS monitoring signal of fishing vessels as prescribed for fishing vessels with a length from 15 m to under 24 m, and other faults are not complying with inspection by authorities, violating regulations on traveling in border areas...

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Mr. Mai Hong Phong - Head of the Provincial Department of Fisheries - Fisheries Surveillance added: According to the coordination regulations, the Coastal Border Guard Stations are focusing on verifying and preparing documents to advise the People's Committees of districts and towns to handle fishing vessels that have lost connection and violated foreign fishing areas from October 1, 2023 to before May 20, 2024. In total, from the beginning of the year until now and especially after 4 months of peak operations, the whole province has fined 254 vehicle owners, with a total amount of over 5 billion VND, of which 144 vehicles/4.3 billion VND for the violation of losing VMS connection and 110 other vehicles with a total amount of 740 million VND for other violations./.