The radical solution to removing the IUU "yellow card"

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Assoc.Prof.Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi, Standing Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fisheries Association, a Member of the National Assembly of Hai Phong City.

How do you assess the difficulties of our country's seafood industry today?

Combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing is highly relevant to exports. Especially in the current context, export activities in general and seafood export, in particular, are facing many difficulties. For the seafood industry, the difficulties caused by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic have not yet been overcome, but they have to face disruptions in the global supply chain and supply and demand decline. This has caused businesses and seafood processing facilities to reduce export orders by 30-35%, depending on the type and market. These are huge impacts on businesses and fishermen, leading to many difficulties "loading" on businesses and employees.

IUU is related to the livelihood of fishermen. In your opinion, what problems in this story need to be solved?

It is a fact that even establishments and fishermen who comply with IUU well cannot join the action on domestic fishing grounds. The reason is that our fishing grounds have been degraded, resources are reduced, climate change and ocean changes, and sea level rise changes the entire basic ecosystem. Therefore, when fishermen return to catch, their life is unstable, and they cannot participate in the production, supply and export market share process.

In addition, many ships are lying on shore. Many large fishing boats are built under Decree 67/2014/ND-CP for offshore fishing, but many ships still have to stay ashore due to difficulties in settlement or technical failure. … All these difficulties have bound wisdom. Fishermen must stick to the sea and can't put the ship ashore to become a farmer.

So this is a vicious story. As long as we cannot fundamentally solve the problem of resources and fishermen, there is no effective solution for a synchronous approach: fisherman - fishery - fishery, then many more difficulties. We have experience in doing well in agriculture, farmers and rural areas. We should have an active program for fishermen, in which much emphasis should be placed on aquaculture. The good news is that the Prime Minister has written to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to establish a project on fishermen. This will be a new step, helping to solve the current difficulties.

With the above difficulties, what is the key to removing the IUU "yellow card" this year, sir?

The European Commission's (EC) determination to remove the IUU "yellow card" warning has been very determined by ministries, sectors and the Government, demonstrated by many actions. The Government has a drastic 180-day program to receive the final EC inspection from October 2022 to May 2023. But now the EC is postponing it to October this year. This postponement can be a positive signal for both sides, in which Vietnam will have more time to continue implementing solutions to remove the "yellow card".

Với những khó khăn nêu trên, mấu chốt để gỡ “thẻ vàng” IUU trong năm nay cần phải làm gì, thưa ông?

Quyết tâm gỡ cảnh báo “thẻ vàng” IUU của Ủy ban châu Âu (EC) đã được các cơ quan bộ, ngành và Chính phủ rất quyết tâm, thể hiện bằng nhiều hành động. Chính phủ đã có chương trình quyết liệt 180 ngày để tiếp nhận đợt kiểm tra theo EC là cuối cùng từ tháng 10/2022 đến tháng 5/2023. Nhưng giờ EC đang hoãn lại đến tháng 10 năm nay. Việc hoãn lại này có thể là tín hiệu tích cực cho cả 2 bên, trong đó Việt Nam sẽ thêm quỹ thời gian để tiếp tục thực hiện các giải pháp gỡ “thẻ vàng”.

Because some local vessels are in violation, the EC has declared that even if there is only one violating vessel, it will not remove the "yellow card". Therefore, we cannot ignore that the authorities need to look back on the lessons from practice, cannot force administrative methods to control illegal fishing at home and abroad reduced, but need to think of comprehensive solutions.

Solving the IUU problem well promotes exports and is good for our country's aquatic ecosystem. So this problem cannot solve the situation, but a long-term solution for the fisheries to be sustainable and responsible for Vietnam. We are talking a lot about green growth, but fisheries must also grow green, based on natural capital and ecosystems, so we must have specific and practical solutions in recovery and regeneration to create aquatic resources.

Thank you, Sir!