Joint efforts help prevent IUU fishing
In conjunction with authorities from 28 coastal regions across the nation, pertinent agencies and units, including the Border Guards, have been actively engaged in disseminating legal knowledge and education to enhance fishermen’s understanding of combatting illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, as well as ensuring compliance with offshore operation regulations.
Law enforcement agencies have intensified inspections and are imposing stringent penalties on violations committed by Vietnamese fishing vessels to prevent and eradicate IUU fishing practices.
The Thanh Hai Border Guard station in Binh Thuan, located in the south-central coastal region, maintains round-the-clock surveillance and management of vessel monitoring systems (VMS), providing timely assistance to fishermen to address technical issues and take decisive actions against violations.
Similarly, in the northern province of Thai Binh, authorities are prioritizing awareness campaigns and focusing on identifying and decisively dealing with vessel owners violating IUU fishing regulations during the ongoing peak period of combating illegal fishing activities at sea, extending until late April, with the aim of swiftly removing the “yellow card” warning issued against Vietnamese seafood by the European Commission (EC).
The Border Guard High Command has implemented comprehensive measures and strategies to assess, categorize, and closely monitor vessels prone to violating foreign waters, thereby detecting early indicators and behaviors of IUU violations to promptly implement preventative and corrective measures.
In 2023, in collaboration with local authorities and relevant agencies, the command disseminated information to nearly 460,000 fishermen and conveyed messages to 2,357 mobile phone subscribers. Additionally, 26,583 leaflets and 7,095 documents were distributed.
The force has maintained close coordination with relevant agencies such as the Coast Guard, Navy, Police, and other authorized bodies to advise local authorities on conducting inspections and ensuring the execution of tasks in combating IUU fishing.
Recently, in partnership with the Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel), the command organized training sessions to instruct the utilization of software for managing and monitoring fishing vessels under a project implemented by border stations in the 28 coastal regions.
Thanks to these concerted efforts, the number of Vietnamese fishing vessels violating foreign waters has progressively decreased each year.
