Many fishing vessels from Nghe An province have also lost VMS connectivity at sea.
(Baonghean.vn) - This was one of the issues raised at the online conference this morning (September 28) organized by the Standing Committee of the National Steering Committee on Combating Illegal Fishing under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, with the participation of ministries, sectors and coastal provinces.
The conference, chaired from Hanoi, was led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien. Also attending were representatives from ministries and agencies that are members of the National IUU Steering Committee, departments and divisions under the Ministry, and representatives from 28 coastal provinces.
The conference at the Nghe An branch was chaired by Mr. Tran Xuan Hoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Also attending were representatives from various departments, agencies, coastal districts and towns, the Provincial Border Guard Command, and coastal border guard posts.
At the conference, on behalf of the leadershipMinistry of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentThe head of the Fisheries Department presented a preliminary report on the content of Decision No. 3929/2023 approving the work plan with the EC inspection team for the 4th time on combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Accordingly, in addition to the work that the Ministry and the National IUU Steering Committee are doing and the dialogue with the EC, the Fisheries Department notes that localities need to fully prepare the contents that the EC has recommended.remove yellow cardand focused inspections such as: progress in handling violations by fishing vessels, reports on tracing vessels with sudden increases in catch yields, results of origin checks on some containerized seafood export shipments; results of law enforcement and handling of fishing vessels violating foreign waters…
Next, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien, based on a review of some typical violations, requested that IUU members, departments under the Ministry, and relevant provinces update and report back to the Standing Committee of the IUU Steering Committee for review and monitoring.
At the conference, representatives from ministries, departments, and agencies under the ministries reported and updated on the handling of cases and previous recommendations issued by the EC; difficulties and obstacles encountered, most notably the newly enacted Inspection Law, effective from July 1, 2023, regarding the unclear authority of specialized inspection forces to impose penalties, which has hampered inspection and enforcement work.Addressing IUU violationsThis is so that the Standing Committee of the National IUU Steering Committee can take appropriate action or make recommendations for handling the matter, and report back to the National IUU Steering Committee.
At the conference, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also noted that Nghe An is one of the localities where many fishing vessels still have lost VMS connectivity at sea.
Concluding the meeting, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development requested that ministries, sectors, and localities, based on the Ministry's plan for working with the EC, continue to review and definitively handle violations that have been warned against and raised by the EC in previous working sessions; closely monitor and manage the fishing fleet, comparing the number of registered vessels with the actual fishing activities at sea, and comparing them with the national fishing vessel management system VNFISHBASE.
According to the plan, the European Commission (EC) delegation will conduct field inspections and technical work from October 10th to October 18th, 2023. Specifically, from October 11th to 15th, they will work with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, several seafood export businesses, and conduct field inspections at designated fishing ports and some localities; on October 16th and 17th, they will work technically with the Fisheries Inspection Department, the Fisheries Department, the Veterinary Department, the Quality, Processing and Market Development Department, and other relevant units; and on October 18th, they will hold high-level discussions and dialogues with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and work with the Prime Minister, Head of the National Steering Committee for IUU Prevention and Control.
