Vietnam's Department of Fisheries has publicly announced a list of local boats which it said are guilty of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The move is part of the country’s efforts to deal with the “yellow card” imposed by the European Commission last year. The E.C. issued the yellow card to Vietnam in October 2017, warning the Southeast Asian country it could ban its seafood exports entirely unless it did more to tackle illegal fishing.
A total of 42 vessels were discovered operating illegally in other country’s waters from 13 November last year to 9 April this year.
As many as 13 Vietnamese boats reportedly broke fishing laws in Thailand in the period. A further 11 are accused of committing acts of IUU fishing in Cambodia, 10 in Malaysia, three in Indonesia, two in New Caledonia, and one in Brunei, according to the list.
February saw the biggest number of violators, with 12 boats reportedly breaking IUU fishing laws. That was followed by 10 in January and six in March.
Most of the violated boats came from coastal provinces the southern and central regions of Vietnam.
In November 2017, Vietnam's National Assembly passed a revised law on fisheries including heavy fines for IUU violators. Under the revisions, fishing boat owners and captains would be given the highest fines of VND 1 billion (USD 43,900, EUR 36,760) for violations. But the new law doesn’t take effect until 1 January, 2019.
The current fines are much lower. Under a government’s revised directive effective in May 2017, fishing boat owners and captains can be fined up to VND 100 million (USD 4,390, EUR 3,678) for violations until the new law comes into effect.
Strict and resolute measures applied by Vietnamese authorities following the yellow card have led to a sharp reduction of the number of Vietnamese fishing boats operating illegally in other countries, particularly in island states in the Pacific Ocean, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said in a statement following a visit to the European Union by Vietnamese Agriculture Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong in late March.
Arrests of Vietnamese fishermen and boats in overlapping areas, however, remain an unresolved issue between Vietnam and Indonesia. Vietnam is working to complete the demarcation of the exclusive economic zones with Indonesia, Malaysia, and Cambodia in order to resolve some of those border-related problems, the Vietnamese ministry said.
Photo courtesy of Heriyanto
