Vietnam Fisheries Society objects to China’s fishing ban in East Sea

A fishing vessel of Vietnam (Photo: VNA)

The Vietnam Fisheries Society (VINAFIS) has voiced its objection to China’s unilateral fishing ban in the East Sea for 2023.

VINAFIS sent the objection document to the Government Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations and Commission for Information and Education.

China recently imposed the annual fishing ban, which applicable from May 1 to August 16 this year, on an area including Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracels) in the East Sea.

VINAFIS said the unilateral, groundless, and repeated ban of China has seriously violated Vietnam’s sea and island sovereignty, rights, and interests; infringed international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); and run counter to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), to which both Vietnam and China are parties.

The society held that such a long fishing ban will hamper normal activities of Vietnamese fishing vessels and fishermen in the sea areas under Vietnam’s sovereignty. Therefore, this groundless ban will increase the risk of encounters between vessels of Vietnamese fishermen and the coast guard force of China and, at the same time, negatively affect the fisheries sector and fishermen’s way to earn their living.

VINAFIS noted that it resolutely opposes the wrongful fishing ban of China and demands China immediately end this unreasonabl ban in the waters of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa.

It also called on relevant agencies to strongly object to and take strong measures for preventing China’s groundless fishing ban so as to protect the marine and fishery resources typical for each sea area; protect safety for Vietnamese fishermen when they work in the waters of Vietnam’s sovereignty, sovereign right, and jurisdiction; and firmly safeguard security, defence, and maritime sovereignty of the country.

It will instruct seafood and fisheries associations of localities to coordinate closely with one another and relevant units to boost communications to promote fishermen’s law compliance while working in the sea, and encourage fishermen to maintain their presence at sea, thereby helping protect the Fatherland’s maritime sovereignty, VINAFIS added./.