The Government has tasked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) along with the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate efforts in integrating the use of VNelD accounts for logging in and conducting procedures for vessel registration and fisheries exploitation before July 1, 2024.
Coastal localities are urged to intensify measures against IUU fishing while enhancing resource management, environmental protection, and climate change mitigation.
These are among the requirements outlined by the Government for localities in Resolution 44 of the Government’s regular meeting in March 2024 and the Government’s online conference with localities, recently issued.
Besides, the Government has instructed MARD to lead and collaborate with relevant institutes and coastal localities to ramp up efforts against IUU fishing, and to urgently compile a report on IUU implementation results since the fourth inspection (October 2023) until now.
The results must be submitted to the Inspection Delegation of the European Commission (EC) before April 10, 2024, and adequately relevant institutes must be well-prepared to work with the EC’s fifth inspection delegation so that the yellow card can be removed in 2024.
MARD, in coordination with the Ministry of Public Security, is also tasked with synchronizing national fisheries data (fishing vessels, vessel owners, and crew members) with the national population database to clean up data before May 30, 2024.
These ministries also need to coordinate in preparing infrastructure and connecting with the national population database to link registration data of fishing vessels and log-books to fulfill the residence declaration for crew members and vessel owners. “Integration of using VNelD accounts for logging in and conducting procedures for vessel registration, fisheries exploitation must be completed before July 1, 2024,” the Government requests.
On April 8 and 9, the Minister of MARD led a working delegation to work with Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu and Bình Định provinces on the fight against IUU fishing and implementation of EC recommendations and directives from the Prime Minister and the National Steering Committee on IUU, as well as plans for working with the EC’s fifth inspection delegation.
During the working sessions, representatives from enterprises and fishermen expressed their determination to remove the EC’s yellow card and combat IUU fishing. Also, they proposed that the competent authorities should strictly handle violating fishing vessels, provide guidance, and resolve issues for enterprises and fishermen regarding fishing licenses, and confirm the origin of seafood.
Minister Lê Minh Hoan also emphasized that combating IUU fishing is a national issue, not exclusive to any coastal locality. “It’s not because of removing the IUU yellow card that we are implementing a ban on illegal fishing, but it’s a good opportunity for Vietnam to redefine the fisheries sector,” he affirmed.
VFM
