Urgent Solutions to Remove “Yellow Card” Warning Raised by EC
Stronger sanctions are needed for cases of fishing vessels and fishermen that do illegal fishing. This urgent solution is needed to pass the yellow card raised by the European Commission (EC).
A report from the Directorate of Fisheries showed that 85 cases with 137 ships and 1,162 fishermen violated foreign waters in 2018, an increase of 28 cases, 46 ships and 379 fishermen compared to 2017, mainly in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia and Brunei. In early 2019, Vietnamese fishing vessels continued to infringe foreign waters with complicated developments, including 16 cases, 26 ships and 96 fishermen. Provinces with fishing vessels retained by foreign countries include Kien Giang, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Dinh, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Binh Thuan.
This reality resulted from unstrict, ineffective, insufficient penalties on shipowners and captains that illegally encroached foreign waters. Locally incompetent patrol, inspection and control of waters to handle domestic illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) gave rise to rampant IUU fishing in littoral waters. In late May or early June, an EC inspectorate is expected to visit Vietnam for examination and if the outcome does not meet EC recommendations, the risk of being imposed “Red Card” measures is very high.
At the Conference on Deploying Urgent Solutions to Pass Yellow Cards of the European Commission (EC) opened by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, many participants proposed increasing punitive measures on illegal fishing. According to Major General Bui Trung Dung, Deputy Commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard, fishing violations in foreign waters are very complicated. In many cases, Vietnamese fishermen also disguised vessels of Malaysia and Cambodia. Therefore, he suggested that a stronger regime should be strengthened for fishing boats and fishermen which do illegal fishing. The application of the Criminal Code will be taken into consideration for intentional, repetitive violations.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the core tasks in the coming time are effectively applying directive documents of the Government and the Law on Fisheries, focusing on IUU fishing contents; strengthening patrol, inspection and supervision of law enforcement; detecting, timely preventing and strictly handling fishing ships and fishermen who show signs of violating foreign waters; and synchronizing VN-FISHBASE fisheries database in May 2019. Minister Cuong also proposed 28 coastal provinces and cities urgently complete granting quotas for fishing vessel licenses before July 2019; strictly revoke IUU-violating fishing vessel licenses; and accelerate the installation of cruise monitoring equipment for fishing vessels.
Ngoc Dan
Vietnamese
