The Provincial People's Committee approved a policy to support funding for purchasing equipment to monitor fishing vessel journeys.

On the afternoon of July 8, under the chairmanship of comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, the Provincial People's Committee held a thematic meeting to listen to and give opinions on important contents. Attending the meeting were Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committee: Bui Dinh Long and Le Ngoc Hoa. Photo: Pham Bang

At the meeting, the Provincial People's Committee approved the draft policy on financial support for purchasing journey monitoring equipment and service subscription fees for journey monitoring equipment installed on fishing vessels in the province to submit to the Provincial People's Council for decision on investment policy.

According to the Law on Fisheries and Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP, fishing vessels of fishermen with a length of 15m or more must install voyage monitoring equipment before April 1, 2020 and "Ship owners must pay the costs of purchasing, installing, maintaining and providing other services to the unit providing the voyage monitoring equipment for fishing vessels".

Mr. Tran Huu Tien - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development presented a draft policy on financial support for purchasing voyage monitoring equipment and service subscription fees for voyage monitoring equipment installed on fishing vessels in the province. Photo: Pham Bang

However, in the past 3 years, the fishing industry has had consecutive crop failures, causing many difficulties for fishermen. In addition, the price of each set of monitoring equipment installed on a fishing boat ranges from 17 to 23 million VND, not to mention the monthly subscription fee of 240,000 to 484,000 VND/month, which is a large sum of money for fishermen at the present time.

Therefore, fishermen do not have enough money to buy voyage monitoring equipment to install on fishing boats and pay service subscription fees for voyage monitoring equipment as prescribed, greatly affecting the province's aquatic and seafood exploitation activities.

Therefore, the issuance of a Resolution on the policy of supporting funding for purchasing voyage monitoring equipment and service subscription fees for voyage monitoring equipment installed on fishing vessels in Nghe An province is extremely necessary.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hai - Director of the Department of Finance spoke at the meeting. Photo: Pham Bang

According to the draft, fishing vessel owners with a length of 15m or more will be supported with funding to purchase voyage monitoring equipment installed on fishing vessels with a one-time support level (in 2020) of 50% of the value of a set of voyage monitoring equipment, but not exceeding VND 8,750,000/set/vessel.

In addition, the service subscription fee for the journey monitoring device installed on fishing vessels will be supported at the rate of 120,000 VND/month/vessel, for 12 months.

The total estimated funding requirement for policy support for the two contents in 2020 is more than VND 8,871 billion; the period 2021 - 2025 (only supporting service subscription fees) is more than VND 9,050 billion.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung speaks at the meeting. Photo: Pham Bang

The policy aims to help fishermen fully equip themselves with voyage monitoring equipment in accordance with the provisions of the Fisheries Law; overcome difficulties in the current period due to the fishing season's failure and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the same time, promptly address the recommendations of the European Commission (EC) on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing) to quickly remove the EC's "Yellow Card" for the Vietnamese fisheries industry.

Supporting the service subscription fee for the journey monitoring device installed on fishing vessels will help fishermen to regularly maintain the operation of the journey monitoring device installed on fishing vessels 24/7 from the time of departure to the time of entry; State management agencies will proactively and effectively manage fishing vessels operating in sea areas, support disaster prevention and control, and search and rescue.