Developing industries to create sustainable livelihoods for fishermen, reducing dependence on exploitation
(Baonghean.vn) - That was the statement of the Prime Minister to ministries, sectors and coastal localities on inspection against illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing at an online conference on the afternoon of October 7.
Comrade Pham Minh Chinh - Politburo member, Prime Minister, Head of the National IUU Steering Committee chaired the conference from Hanoi. Co-chairs included Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang; representatives of ministries and branches who are members of the National IUU Steering Committee; representatives of the People's Committees of 28 coastal provinces and the association of seafood exporting enterprises.
At Nghe An bridge, comrade Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the conference. Also attending were representatives of departments, border guards and coastal localities.
Opening the conference, the Prime Minister spoke, acknowledging the efforts of the IUU Steering Committee Office, ministries, branches and localities in management,against IUU fishingIn recent times, authorities at all levels have actively participated in, led and directed, and functional forces have strengthened inspection and law enforcement, thereby achieving many positive results and gradually reducing violations.
In the coming time, ministries, branches and localities must promote positive results, make efforts to convince the EC working group, and further strengthen inspection and supervision activities. Combating IUU fishing still faces many difficulties due to its relation to people's livelihoods, so it is necessary to change occupations, promote aquaculture to limit fishing; build and create sustainable livelihoods for people...
Next, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported on the implementation results of theEC yellow card recommendationover the past time and preparations to welcome the upcoming EC delegation. Accordingly, after nearly 6 years of yellow card warnings for seafood and 3 inspections in Vietnam, the EC delegation had a preliminary assessment recognizing Vietnam's political determination to combat IUU fishing, with many more positive changes compared to the 2019 inspection.
However, the exploitation situation still has some shortcomings and limitations such as the situation of Vietnamese fishing boats violating the exploitation of seafood in foreign waters...
In addition, localities and ministries have not yet builtVietnamese fishing vessel data informationWhen fishing in foreign waters or disputed or overlapping waters, hand over to competent authorities and localities for handling and protecting the legitimate rights of fishermen...
At the conference, representatives of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security, through the situation of controlling and handling fishing vessels entering and leaving the maritime boundary between our country and other countries, and legal problems, proposed to individualize the responsibility of captains and owners of fishing vessels violating IUU because when fishing, the captain is the person with the highest responsibility; soon complete regulations on prosecuting and investigating a number of cases, acts of brokering fishermen to illegally exploit in foreign waters; sanction confiscation or dismantling of violating fishing vessels...
At the conference, representatives of a number of ministries, branches and localities also reported on the results of recent anti-IUU fishing inspections and stated the causes, while also proposing a number of solutions to overcome and handle the situation.
Based on the comments and proposals of ministries, branches and localities, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang noted that it is necessary to promote positive aspects to do well; if from now until the end of the year, there are fishing boats that violate foreign waters and are caught, it will be very difficult to remove the yellow card, or even a red card.
Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh once again acknowledged the positive results in vehicle management, combating IUU fishing and removing the EC yellow card in recent times. However, reports and inspections show that fishing activities still have many shortcomings and limitations.
The Prime Minister said that there are goals such as career conversion that must be done over the long term, but there are things that must be done immediately, persistently, and consistently to protect ocean aquatic resources; closely combine economic development with protecting sea and island sovereignty, international commitments; respect international regulations on protecting aquatic resources is to protect the environment and aquatic resources for the country, so whether or not to remove the yellow card, Vietnam still has to do it.
The Prime Minister emphasized: We must focus on raising people's awareness in protecting aquatic resources, exploiting and combating illegal fishing; thoroughly resolving recommendations from other countries, not allowing new complications to arise in management. We must strengthen propaganda on good exploitation and fishing practices according to regulations; we must clarify to international friends the policies and guidelines of our Party and State on combating IUU fishing and opposing distorted arguments about removing the yellow card. Localities must review planning, plans and solutions to create sustainable livelihoods for people to replace and reduce pressure on the fishing industry; strictly handle the situation of fishing vessels with "3 no's": no license, no declaration and no reporting when fishing...