Just weeks ahead of a yellow card review by inspectors from the European Commission, Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has ordered the Ministry of National Defense to use its forces to stop local fishermen from fishing illegally in other countries’ waters, according to a government statement on 15 October.
Dung issued the directive in a meeting with relevant ministries and agencies to coordinate preparations before receiving inspectors from the E.C.'s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, who are expected to visit Vietnam from 4 to 12 November this year to review the yellow card imposed two years ago.
Vietnam’s Defense Ministry has been asked to implement an action plan designed to significantly reduce the number of illegal fishing violations by 31 October and put an end to all illegal fishing activities by Vietnamese fishermen overseas by 31 December this year.
Officials from coastal provinces are also directed to coordinate with the Defense Ministry and Agriculture Ministry to monitor fishing boats and punish violators, while police have been asked to investigate any suspects deliberately sending fishermen to fish illegally abroad.
The General Department of Fisheries has named 59 local boats found to be operating illegally, mostly in waters of other countries, as of 19 September this year. Of the total, 23 boats operated illegally in Indonesia, 13 in Malaysia, four in Thailand, and the remainder in other countries.
From 7 to 31 October, the Agriculture Ministry’s National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, the Directorate of Fisheries, and fisheries departments in numerous provinces and cities will dispatch inspection teams to local seafood companies to review their obedience to illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing regulations, the Vietnamese ministry had said earlier this month.
The yellow card was imposed on Vietnam in October 2017, and since then, the E.U. has been conducting a review of Vietnam’s fisheries- and seafood-related policies to determine which route it will take out of three options available to it: Maintaining the country’s yellow card status; issuing a red card banning all seafood imports from Vietnam; or rescinding the yellow card and resuming normal trading relations.
The commission’s carding system is the E.U.’s main tool in the fight against illegal fishing. It encourages countries to work with the commission to improve their fisheries governance and retain access to E.U. markets.
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