European Commission to send IUU fishing inspection team to Việt Nam
An inspection team from the European Commission (EC) will visit Việt Nam to examine the country’s efforts on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing prevention and control in October instead of May as announced earlier, Trần Đình Luân, Director of the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said.
Luân said that the EC suggested the organisation of online working sessions with Vietnamese authorities in May, June and October before sending the team to Việt Nam.
In late May, a MARD delegation will have in-person working sessions with EC representatives to update them on Việt Nam's achievements in IUU fishing prevention and control, hoping to narrow the EC’S recommendations to Việt Nam.
Since the EC’S inspection last October, Việt Nam has worked hard to implement four groups of the EC’S recommendations on IUU fishing prevention and control, including those on legal framework; fishing vessel monitoring and control, and fleet management; seafood output verification and origin traceability; and law enforcement.
The MARD has also set up working groups to inspect the situation in coastal localities and instruct them in rolling out measures against IUU fishing and implementing the EC'S recommendations.
Meanwhile, ministries, central agencies, and localities have focused on realising their tasks of IUU fishing combat, preventing and settling ships violating foreign waters and IUU fishing activities.
Luân urged ministries, sectors and localities to work harder to fix existing problems, step up communications on regulations against IUU fishing, and prepare to receive the EC inspection team, thus persuading the EC to remove the “yellow card” against Vietnamese seafood exports.
According to the Directorate of Fisheries, as of April 30, up to 28,797 out of 29,489 fishing vessels nationwide had installed vessel monitoring systems (VMS). Most of the remaining vessels have been out of service and kept ashore.