On February 16, a delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) led by Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien worked with the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province to assess the action to end illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the province.

By February 2022, Quang Ngai had 4,573 fishing vessels and boats with a total capacity of nearly 1,800,000 CV including 3,261 deep sea fishing vessels. Around 38,000 local workers were involved in fisheries in Quang Ngai, fishing nearly 265,000 tons in 2021.

Quang Ngai had 7 fishing ports and 5 harbors used as storm shelters. Over the past years, the province has built 5 fishing ports and storm shelters including Sa Huynh, Tinh Ky, Tinh Hoa, Ly Son and My A.

In addition, many other projects on upgrading, repairing, expanding fishing ports and harbors have been under construction in the province. Currently, five existing fishing infrastructures including Tinh Ky, Tinh Hoa, Ly Son, My A and Sa Huynh that were put into operation and were recognized by the province's People's Committee and the MARD as being eligible for certifying the origin of seafood, contributing to the safety of the  fishermen and boats, facilitating fishing activities and effectively combating IUU fishing.

Despite that, the fishing ports, harbor and storm shelters here have not yet meet local demand as they could only provide space for 1.750 fishing boats and vessels equal to one third of the province's  total number of vessels and boats. Along with that, the annual budget for maintenance and repair of the ports was less than actual demand and the sedimentation made it hard for vessels and boats come in and out.

According to Ho Trong Phuong , Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Ngai province, since 2019 the province's People's Committee established a Steering Committee to combat IUU fishing.  In addition, the department also set up 4 representative offices to monitor fishing activities at ports.

"Quang Ngai has now 2,806 out of 3,261 offshore fishing vessels installed with Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), reaching a rate of 86.04%. The remaining 148 fishing boats without VMS are mostly small-capacity ones, fishing close to the coast. They often go pass intertidal flats without strict management from local government," said Phuong.

Also according to Phuong, over the past year the fact remained that many fishing vessels in the province were out of coverage area. The province's competent agencies handled 116 cases and fined 22 cases VND550 million.

The director of Quang Ngai's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development admitted that there remained some existing problems with combating IUU fishing.  Although the measures have been adopted to prevent  fishing vessels from violating other countries' waters there has been no marked improvement in the situation.

Besides, the province's percentage of fishing boats with registrations, licenses and VMS as well as the detection and handling of violating vessels were still low. Moreover only a small proportion of caught fish at ports were monitored (25,100 tons out of 265,000 tons in 2021).

According to Mr. Phung Duc Tien, Deputy Minister of the MARD, four years since Vietnam was issued a yellow card the country has actively take measures to get the card removed, focusing on 4 contents including completing a legal system, managing fishing fleet, tracing the origin of caught fish and law enforcement. In which, the first content was basically completed.

"Over the past year, Quang Ngai has made great progress. However to meet EC requirements the province needs to seriously take the remaining three contents.  In particular, the percentage of installation of VMS in Quang Ngai reaches only 86% while the national average rate is over 90%. This issue must be resolved right away because fishing vessels are the centre of combating IUU fishing," Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien emphasized.

Translated by Mai Tham