“Point out” challenges in removing the EC’s “yellow card”

If the “yellow card” is not soon removed, the export of seafood to the EU market will be difficult. Picture: Nguyen Thanh.

Difficult to handle violations

Since the beginning of the year, Kien Giang has been the top province in the country for illegal exploitation in foreign waters.

Mr. Mai Anh Nhi, Vice Chairman of Kien Giang People's Committee, said that the implementation of the Prime Minister's Directive No. 45 /CT-TTg dated December 13, 2017 on a number of urgent tasks and solutions to overcome the warnings by the EC for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the provincial People's Committee has set up a task force to inspect and handle violations of fishing vessels and fishermen illegally exploiting abroad, and to promote education for fishermen. In the first 7 months, the total number of fishing vessels in foreign waters was 14 vessels with 129 fishermen, down by 24 vessels and 230 fishermen compared to the same period in the last year.

“Despite the reduction, the violations still occur. This is a shortcoming that the province has not resolved thoroughly the problem,” Mr. Nhin said.

Mr. Nhi also said that the province encountered many difficulties in the process of propaganda and educating as well as handling violations. “The propaganda is mainly done with the ship's owner, but it’s hard to raise awareness of the captain and crew because they are mostly on the sea. In fact, ship owners, crew, and captains are aware of the regulations, but because of the profits from fisheries resources, they are still exploiting illegally for economic purposes. In addition, the process of dealing with offenses by captains is quite difficult because they have been detained overseas, and the authorities cannot handle the ship owner because this is not the object of violation,” said Nhin.

Representatives of many localities said that the localities are limited in understanding the law, feel embarrassed when dealing with violations. Therefore, the localities proposed to have close cooperation between central and local agencies, especially close coordination between forces such as the Fisheries Surveillance Authority, Coast Guard and Customs.

Trouble in cruise control

One major problem that most of the localities encounter is the installation of travel monitoring equipment. According to Mr. Nhin, local authorities have only encouraged and supported fishermen to install cruise control equipment. However, according to the Fisheries Law of 2017, which came into effect from 2019, the installation of cruise control equipment is mandatory. At present, localities do no understand the standard of the equipment to monitor the journey. For the smooth implementation, Kien Giang Province requests the MARD to quickly issue technical specifications for cruise control equipment.

In this regard, Le Viet Chu, Secretary of Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee, said that fishing vessels operate complexly. The MARD should carefully study and promulgate standards for management through cruise control equipment. “Regarding cruise control equipment, it is worth noting that it should create mechanisms for the locality to have its own choice and local self-management,” said Mr. Chu.

Commenting on the story of cruise control equipment, Mr. Dang Huy Hau, Vice Chairman of Quang Ninh People's Committee, said that Quang Ninh has 610 offshore fishing boats. Among them, the province has installed 40% of the boats with cruise control equipment. If done well, the monitoring of the boats is relatively good. "In addition to the installation of cruise control equipment, patrols and maritime control need to be more closely coordinated between forces because it is quite difficult for a single force such as Coast Guard, Border Guard, Fisheries Surveillance Authority to work separately.

Mr. Le Van Su shared the details of Ca Mau's story, “Regarding the cruise control equipment, the province has ordered Viettel to produce test products, and the province has proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and other central ministries, branches to issue technical standards for equipment soon. In Ca Mau alone, the province asked MARD to investigate the actual equipment ordered by Viettel to find out whether it meets the required features or not, giving comments to the province to equip them for fishermen.”

Facing the above issues, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong affirmed that the MARD will gather opinions, guide specific standards and regulations on cruise control equipment. With Ca Mau alone, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will assign the General Department of Fisheries to appoint representatives to evaluate equipment that Ca Mau ordered from Viettel. If the equipment is efficient, the MARD will inform the province as soon as possible.

In order to implement effectively measures to remove the “yellow card” for seafood, the MARD has proposed the Prime Minister to set up a Steering Committee for the Government’s anti IUU on the basis of upgrading and consolidating from the Task Force 689 at the central level, chaired by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. This is to ensure the concentrated, consistent and efficient direction from the central to the coastal areas, establishing a close coordination mechanism to ensure serious and effective implementation of the prevention, anti IUU ...