Handling 100% of fishing vessels that do not maintain connection to cruise monitoring equipment until May 2023 in Vietnam

Handling 100% of fishing vessels that do not maintain connection to cruise monitoring equipment until May 2023 in Vietnam

Pursuant to Subsection 5, Section III, Article 1 of Decision 81/QD-TTg of 2023 stipulating tasks and solutions for law enforcement and handling of violations until May 2023 in IUU fishing as follows:

Promulgating the “Action plan against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing” (hereinafter referred to as IUU fishing) with the following main contents:

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III. TASKS, SOLUTION UNTIL MAY 2023

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5. Regarding law enforcement, handling violations

- Stop fishing vessels illegally fishing in foreign waters.

- Investigate and handle 100% of cases of Vietnamese fishing vessels being arrested by foreign countries, handle and sanction 100% of cases of illegal fishing in foreign waters and information on the mass media.

- Investigate, consolidate records, prosecute and prosecute cases of brokering, hooking up Vietnamese fishing vessels and fishermen to illegally exploit seafood in foreign waters to prevent, handle and serve propaganda and deterrence.

- Open the peak patrols, inspection and control with the coordination between the authorities and strictly penalize 100% of the acts of IUU fishing according to regulations.

- Verify and handle 100% of fishing vessels that do not maintain connection of cruise monitoring equipment as prescribed.

- Update 100% of the results of sanctioning acts of IUU fishing into the software system to monitor and manage handling of administrative violations in the fisheries sector.

- Inspect, examine and strictly handle designated fishing ports, cruise monitoring equipment suppliers, related businesses, organizations and individuals on the implementation of the task of combating IUU fishing.

Thus, by May 2023, 100% of fishing vessels must be verified and handled that do not maintain the connection of cruise monitoring equipment as prescribed.

What are the specific tasks for relevant ministries, branches and localities to inspect and control 100% of fishing vessels entering and leaving ports in Vietnam until May 2023?

Pursuant to Subsection 3, Section III, Article 1 of Decision 81/QD-TTg of 2023 stipulating regulations on fleet management and monitoring, inspection and control of fishing vessel activities until May 2023 in IUU fishing as follows:

- Review and index statistics of all fishing vessels in the locality, completing 100% of the registration, registration, marking of fishing vessels, granting fishing licenses, installing monitoring equipment for fishing vessels (VMS) according to regulations.

- Update 100% of fishing vessel data into the National Fisheries Database (VNFishbase).

- Make a list of fishing vessels not engaged in fishing and vessels with high risk of IUU fishing violations and send them to the relevant authorities and assign specific units and individuals to monitor and manage.

- Inspect and control 100% of fishing vessels entering and exiting at sea border posts/stations

- Inspect and control fishing vessels entering and exiting the fishing port in accordance with regulations to ensure that the VMS equipment operates continuously 24/24 hours from the time the fishing vessel leaves the port to the time it arrives at the port; 24/7 monitoring and surveillance of 100% of fishing vessels operating at sea through a fishing vessel monitoring system.

- Develop regulations on coordination between localities to control 100% of provincial fishing vessels operating in areas outside the province, fishing vessels of other provinces docked for certification but certified in another province.

- Develop mechanisms and policies to support fishing vessel owners to purchase and install VMS equipment and satellite subscription fees to maintain VMS equipment operation.

- Expeditiously establish the local Fisheries Inspectorate in accordance with the provisions of the Fisheries Law 2017 and the Law on Organization of Local Governments according to the competence of the province.

What are objectives of the Action Plan to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Section II, Article 1 of Decision 81/QD-TTg of 2023 stipulating objectives of the "Action Plan against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing" (hereinafter referred to as IUU fishing) as follows:

- Implement synchronously, effectively and efficiently the provisions of law on fisheries;

- Overcome the shortcomings and limitations according to the recommendations of the European Commission (EC) on combating IUU fishing, removing the "Yellow Card" warning in 2023.

- Unify awareness, action and participation of the whole political system in IUU fishing prevention and control.

- Heads of committees, party organizations and authorities at all levels of directly related departments, ministries, branches and localities shall lead, direct and take responsibility for IUU fishing prevention and control, considering this as a political, priority, urgent task, concentrating resources for implementation, determined to remove the "yellow card" warning.

- Manage exploitation and sustainable development of the fisheries sector for the benefit of the people and the country; enhance Vietnam's international position, image and responsibility in the implementation of international commitments and treaties in marine environment protection and sustainable marine ecosystems.

- Contribute to ensuring national defense and security, sovereignty over sea and islands of the country.

Best regards!