Nghe An fined 272 fishing boats for violating IUU with a total amount of more than 5 billion VND
This information was given at the inspection and working session of the Steering Committee against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Nghe An province on the afternoon of December 18 at Lach Quen fishing port, Quynh Luu district.
Comrade Nguyen Van De - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the inspection and working session.Also attending were representatives of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the province, the Provincial Border Guard Command, People's Committees of districts, towns and coastal Border Guard Stations.
At the meeting, representatives of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reported the results of the peak campaign to combat IUU fishing in 2024.
Specifically, by November 26, 2024, 100% of the registration for 614/614 "03 no" fishing vessels had been completed and 100% of the fishing vessels after registration had their information fully entered into the VNfishbase system.
The province has completed registration, inspection, and licensing for 2,840/2,840 fishing vessels; 1,044/1,058 fishing vessels have installed VMS (Voyage Monitoring System) equipment, reaching 98.7%; 14 vessels have not yet installed VMS (Voyage Monitoring System), accounting for 1.3%..Fishing vessels that have not installed VMS are strictly managed. Every week, the local authorities where the fishing vessels are anchored must take pictures of the fishing vessels along with the anchorage coordinates and send them to the Department of Fisheries and Fisheries Surveillance for monitoring.
Regarding inspection and handling of violations, up to now, the whole province has fined 272 subjects with a total fine of 5.012 billion VND, of which 149 subjects were fined for fishing boats losing VMS signals with a fine of 4.22 billion VND.
In addition, through patrolling and controlling at sea and estuaries, 113 subjects were detected and administrative violations were handled, with a total fine of VND 558.05 million.
Regarding monitoring of fish exploitation output, since the beginning of the year, the Port has monitored 14,431 fishing vessels docking at ports and fishing wharves; the monitored aquatic product output is 63,832 tons, the monitoring rate reaches 34% of the total exploitation output of the whole province.
In general, compared to last year, the quality of enforcement and the involvement of functional forces in handling IUU fishing violations has been enhanced and more drastic than before, especially in handling violations related to VMS disconnection.
At the meeting, representatives of the Provincial Department of Fisheries and Fisheries Surveillance and the Nghe An Fishing Port Management Board also reported and explained the situation of monitoring and managing 14 vessels according to regulations that have not installed VMS; the situation of implementing penalty decisions due to VMS signal loss errors; and at the same time, proposed problems and mechanisms for handling fines...
The Provincial Border Guard Command and Coastal Border Guard Stations also reported the results of handling the verification of fishing vessels that lost connection before May 2024 and the progress of verification, investigation and handling of vessels that lost VMS signal for a long time; some difficulties in verification.
Concluding the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee acknowledged the efforts of relevant departments, agencies and localities in the past time. Currently, the results of combating IUU fishing in the province have improved compared to before, but to complete the tasks assigned by superiors and remove the EC yellow card, more efforts are needed.
In the coming time, relevant departments, branches and localities need to consolidate documents and evidence to request network operators to clearly conclude the cause of VMS signal loss, and have a basis for handling violating vessels.
The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also proposed to strengthen the monitoring of seafood output through ports in a coordinated manner, in which fishing ports are responsible for statistics on vessels entering designated ports, and localities monitor the output of vessels entering private fishing ports. Check and monitor fishing vessels entering and leaving ports to detect and thoroughly handle "3 no" fishing vessels, fishing vessels that violate VMS connection, fishing vessels that violate foreign waters according to regulations and without exception./.
