Increased fines for ships violating foreign waters
Since Vietnam’s seafood was subject to the EC yellow card, seafood exports to the EU market have decreased continuously from 2017 until now. In 2019, seafood export turnover to the EU decreased by 12%, equivalent to 183.5 million USD. In 2020, due to the double impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the EC’s yellow card, seafood exports to this market continued to decrease to 5.7%.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from the beginning of 2022 to now, there have been 75 IUU violations nationwide with 104 ships (919 fishermen) being arrested and handled by foreigners in Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Binh Dinh provinces. Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, Ca Mau and Kien Giang.
The Border Guards of Ba Son Station and the people check the boundary markers and take care of the bamboo. Photo: GT
Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee said that the whole province has 5,800 means of fishing; in which offshore vessels mainly fish in the southern fishing grounds. Currently, 100% of fishing vessels with a length of 15m or more have been installed with cruise monitoring equipment and have management regulations.
From 2020 to now, the province has 37 ships violating IUU; in which mainly ships control Binh Dinh province, but anchor in ports of other provinces. Of the 37 violating ships, only 10 ships over 15m, the rest are 27 ships from 12-15m. According to regulations, ships from 12-15m are not required to install cruise monitoring equipment. Therefore, this is also a problem.
Although the fight against IUU fishing has been drastically implemented, in 2022, in Rach Gia City (Kien Giang) there are still 2 cases with 3 vessels violating IUU; 23 fishermen were detained by foreigners. Through fact-finding at the homes of shipowners who violate IUU, the cause of the violation is that the shipowner assigns a contract to the captain.
According to the covenant, it doesn’t matter which fishing ground the ship is fishing in, as long as it doesn’t violate foreign waters, it will be fine and divided according to the ratio of owner 6, captain and crew 4. For profit, there are many captains. defying, stealthily exploiting foreign waters.
Ben Tre province is also a locality with a large fishing fleet. According to Chairman of Ben Tre Provincial People’s Committee Tran Ngoc Tam, the whole province has 3,431 fishing and seafood vessels; including 2,045 ships of 15m or more. Currently, the province has about 650 ships that regularly anchor in Bac Lieu and Ca Mau provinces for many years without returning to the locality. In 2021, the province has 7 IUU violations with 7 ships; In 2022, there were 5 IUU violations with 9 ships.
According to Mr. Tam, the current level of punishment for IUU-violating vehicles is still light and not deterrent. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to strictly handle violations. Currently seafood resources are increasingly depleted, so reducing the number of ships to reduce fishing intensity is necessary to help regenerate seafood resources. In addition, it is necessary to promote job change for fishermen in two directions: aquaculture and tourism development.