Regulations on management of fishing vessel monitoring system in Vietnam as of May 19, 2024

Regulations on management of fishing vessel monitoring system in Vietnam as of May 19, 2024 (Internet image) 

Regarding this matter, LawNet would like to answer as follows: 

On April 4, 2024, the Government also issued Decree 37/2024/ND-CP amending Decree 26/2019/ND-CP providing guidelines for implementation of the Law on Fisheries 2017, which comes into force from May 19, 2024.

Regulations on management of fishing vessel monitoring system in Vietnam as of May 19, 2024

Decree 37/2024/ND-CP amends Article 44 of Decree 26/2019/ND-CP regulating the management of fishing vessel monitoring system in Vietnam as of May 19, 2024 as follows:

(1) The fishing vessel monitoring system shall meet requirements specified in Appendix VII enclosed with Decree 37/2024/ND-CP.

(2) The fishing vessel monitoring system software at the monitoring equipment supplier shall meet the following requirements:

- Being capable of connecting and receiving information and data from the fishing vessel monitoring system;

- Ensuring continuous connection to transmit full information and data from the fishing vessel monitoring system to the monitoring data center affiliated to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

- Receiving information from the fishing vessel monitoring system software in order to transmit it to the fishing vessel monitoring system according to the format prescribed by the monitoring data center affiliated to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

- Keeping data confidential according to regulations of law.

(3) Functions of fishing vessel monitoring system software at the monitoring data center affiliated to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development:

- The software must be compatible with Microsoft Windows, Android and IOS, and have an intuitive Vietnamese interface. Software must be able to manage all information of fishing vessels provided with monitoring equipment; provide information to central government authorities and local authorities to manage, inspect and monitor activities of fishing vessels at sea and entry into and exit from ports; the revision to data on fishing vessels is prohibited;

- The software must display vessel location in real time, time, speed, course, alarm signals, last data update time, weather information, fishery information and status of the monitoring equipment, and send information to the monitoring equipment via the software at the monitoring equipment supplier; display main equipment according to the declared code enclosed with the fishing license and backup equipment;

- Software must have access, search, tabulation, reporting and data gathering functions in accordance with regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on provision, management and use of data from the monitoring equipment, and must be able to create a vessel management zone and send automatic warnings upon the exit/entry of vessels from/into such zone;

- Software must connect and transmit information to the data center of the monitoring equipment supplier; grant privileges to organizations and individuals entitled to use fishing vessel monitoring data;

- Software must clearly display coordinates of fishing zones, zones where fishing is prohibited, fishing ports, islands and archipelagos under Vietnamese sovereignty that have been delimited and Vietnam's historic waters.

(4) Management of fishing vessel monitoring system

- The fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall:

Unify management of the fishing vessel monitoring system and fishing vessel monitoring data nationwide, manage system and grant rights to access and use fishing vessel monitoring data to local authorities, fishing port agencies and organizations designated and forces that enforce laws on fishing at sea; directly handle fishing vessel monitoring data with regard to fishing vessels with a length of at least 24 meters.

Build and operate the fishing vessel monitoring system, and ensure that information and data are received and processed promptly; if it is detected that the fishing vessel loses signal or has crossed the zone permitted for fishing at sea, the fishery authority shall send notification by one of the following forms: phone, email, or data to focal points receiving and processing fishing vessel monitoring information of Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development in coastal provinces and central- affiliated cities, Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance, Vietnam Coast Guard, Vietnam Border Guard in order to organize inspection, control, settlement, consolidation and report according to regulations and rules on cooperation among units.

- Departments of Agriculture and Development of coastal provinces and cities shall manage and process fishing vessel monitoring data of provinces and cities; process monitoring data of vessels with a maximum length of from 15 meters to less than 24 meters; access fishing vessel monitoring database to serve management of fishing vessels, traceability and handling of violations within their management. Fishery authorities of coastal provinces and cities shall manage and process monitoring data on fishing vessels of provinces and cities and fishing vessels of other provinces and cities when they operate in waters within their management; access fishing vessel monitoring database to serve management of fishing vessels, traceability and handling of violations within their jurisdiction.

- Departments of Agriculture and Development of provinces and central- affiliated cities, Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance, Vietnam Coast Guard, Vietnam Border Guard shall appoint focal points receiving fishing vessel monitoring information and send information about such focal points to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and process data of the fishing vessel monitoring system. They shall send reports on handling results to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (via On-duty Department operating fishing vessel monitoring systems) by email or in writing for consolidation on a periodical (by 20th every month) or ad hoc (if required) basis.

- When installing monitoring equipment, the vessel owner shall declare information about installation and activation of the equipment according to the Form No. 01.KT in the Appendix IV of Decree 37/2024/ND-CP; and provide information about monitoring of his/her vessel from the monitoring data center affiliated to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the monitoring data center under the monitoring equipment supplier upon request.

- The provincial fishery authority shall manage and inspect installation and activation of the monitoring equipment.

- The captain or the vessel owner must ensure that monitoring equipment operates 24/24 from the moment a fishing vessel leaves port until it returns. In case the monitoring equipment loses signal, the captain or the vessel owner shall use another equipment that records the vessel location and report the location to the management agency at port when the vessel enters the port, and use another communication equipment and report the vessel location to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the provincial fishery authority where the fishing vessel is registered (via On-duty Department operating fishing vessel monitoring systems) every 06 hours and take the vessel to the port for repair within 10 days from the date on which the monitoring equipment is damaged; the captain or the vessel owner shall strictly comply with warnings given by the monitoring equipment, and must not operate their fishing vessel crossing boundaries of zones permitted for fishing at sea.

- Foreign fishing vessels operating within Vietnam’s waters must install monitoring equipment in accordance with technical requirements and regulations on management and use of fishing vessel monitoring system and data specified in Article 44 of Decree 37/2024/ND-CP;

- Monitoring data shall be used as a legal ground for managing activities of fishing vessels, imposing penalties for administrative violations, handling disputes over fishing gears, stating fishery products originating from catches and providing benefits in the fishery sector.

(5) Responsibility of the monitoring equipment supplier

- Update and manage information about fishing vessels and their owners, codes of fishing vessel monitoring equipment and container seal numbers. The information is automatically transmitted to the monitoring data center affiliated to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Conduct inspection and take responsibility for the accuracy of information before updating it on the fishing vessel monitoring system software of the monitoring equipment supplier; notify the vessel owner of the expiration of the vessel monitoring equipment 30 days in advance; be prohibited from making disconnection without permission when the fishing vessel is operating at sea;

- Install the monitoring equipment at a fixed location in a part attached to the fishing vessel’s hull. There must be manual (the manual shall contain at least: 24/24 telephone number, contact address of the supplier); the equipment shall be protected by fixing container seal on the vessel upon installation or after repair;

- Promptly tackle equipment technical issues and provide information related to the equipment; cooperate in handling violations at the request of the competent authority; handle loss of signal of its monitoring equipment; send monitoring data that has not yet been submitted to the monitoring data center affiliated to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development enclosed with a written certification in case of force majeure events;

- Submit quarterly, biannual, annual or ad hoc reports on results to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development in provinces and central-affiliated cities where fishing vessels are registered according to Form No. 01B.KT Appendix IV enclosed with Decree 37/2024/ND-CP upon request;

- Before supplying the fishing vessel monitoring equipment, notify in writing the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for consolidation and public disclosure on its web portal;

- Ensure transmission of data from the equipment to the monitoring data center affiliated to the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

- Assume responsibility in case the data cannot be transmitted from the equipment to the monitoring data center due to technical errors.

(6) Data security:

- Data stored in server of the monitoring equipment supplier should not be deleted or changed during the storage period;

- Data transmitted between the monitoring equipment and the server of the monitoring equipment supplier must be encoded to ensure information security during the transmission; when being transmitted to other specialized agencies, monitoring data must be encoded according to regulations;

- Monitoring data shall be stored for at least 36 months; data storage and processing servers of the monitoring equipment supplier shall be located in Vietnam;

- The monitoring equipment supplier shall be responsible for keeping data confidential and providing data in an accurate manner; only provide monitoring data upon request of fishery authorities when obtaining approval from the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

(7) Management, installation, dismantlement and replacement of monitoring equipment

- The provincial fishery authority shall establish and issue procedures for installation, dismantlement and replacement of fishing vessel monitoring equipment and manage such installation, dismantlement and replacement,

- Upon installation, dismantlement and replacement of monitoring equipment, the vessel owner shall notify the local fishery authority according to Form No. 01.KT Appendix IV enclosed with Decree 37/2024/ND-CP to serve inspection and verification according to regulations and request the supplier to update such installation, dismantlement and replacement to the database. If the monitoring equipment is damaged, before the equipment is dismantled, the provincial fishery authority shall be notified to make a record of equipment status prior to dismantlement and replacement.

- Upon installation of the monitoring equipment, it shall be protected by fixing container seal according to the specimen of lead notified by the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; each container seal used for each equipment shall have an independent container seal number and the container seal number shall include abbreviated name of the supplier and order number of the container seal. After installing the monitoring equipment, the equipment supplier shall notify the fishery authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the provincial fishery authority to inspect the installation of the equipment and update it to the monitoring database.

Nguyen Ngoc Que Anh

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE