VN joins int’l fishing legislation
HAØ NOÄI The Government has agreed to accede to the Food and Agriculture Organisations Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), the first binding international agreement to specifically target illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The Government has assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to co-ordinate with concerned agencies in the implementation of the PSMA Agreement in strict compliance with the current regulations.
The PSMA Agreement was adopted by members of the FAO in 2009 and entered into force in 2016. It is a turning point in the fight against delinquency in the fisheries sector.
According to the MARDs Directorate of Fisheries, the European Commission (EC) would return to Vieät Nam to review the countrys results in the fight against IUU and consider the possibility of revoking yellow card warnings on its fishing industry in January 2019.
The EC noted Vieät Nams progress in implementing its recommendations but it saw there were still many challenges that needed to be solved, so that EC would lengthen the penalty for yellow card for additional six months.
In October 2017, the EC notified the application of yellow card warning measures for seafood products exported by Vieät Nam, saying that the Vietnamese fishing industry had violated the IUU principles of legal, sustainable and declared fishing.
The yellow card penalty means more time and money being spent on inspections when Vietnamese seafood is expected to enter the EU market. When finalising the yellow card, the EC made nine recommendations for Vieät Nam to be implemented within six months from October 23, 2017 to April 24, 2018.
After a period of six months, the EC sent delegations to Vieät Nam to monitor the implementation of the recommendations.
The EC delegations assessment said there were still many holes in the control of fishing and traceability.
In addition, although Vieät Nam has incorporated the ECs recommendations in the Fisheries Law of 2017, they still needed to be implemented in some localities. VNS