Overcome "yellow card": "hot" at the superior level but "cold" at the subordinate level

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The conference. Photo: Nguyen Thanh

Improvements are not significant

At a conference to deploy urgent solutions to overcome EC's "yellow card" warning held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on April 23, in Hanoi, Deputy Director General of the Directorate of Fisheries (MARD) Nguyen Quang Hung said after the EC "yellow card" for Vietnam's fishing, the political system, society, the fishing community and fishery enterprises have made great efforts to implement EC recommendations and have achieved some remarkable results.

Specifically, internalising international and regional regulations in the Government’s Law on Fisheries 2017 and MARD’s guiding documents; raising awareness of fishery management agencies from central to local level, fishing community and enterprises on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; almost ending violations of the waters of Pacific Island countries by fishing boats; improving inspection and control of fishing boats.

However, Hung also noted that the combat against IUU fishing in Vietnam has not really improved significantly. The direction of all levels and sectors in the localities has not really been drastic and violations are not handled strictly according to the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister.

In addition, law enforcement to prevent violations of Vietnamese fishing boats in foreign waters has not been effective; this situation is still complicated; the monitoring system for fishing boats has not met requirements; the control of fishing boats in and out of ports has been restricted; and the certification of origin of fishery products has had many errors.

For example, information on fishing boats coming in and out of ports has been insufficient and inconsistent between control stages, leading to many errors, below the requirements of traceability.

In addition, fishing boats that are unloading at ports are not declared before arriving. Number of fishing ports eligible for certification of exploited fishery materials is only 57 out of 83, accounting for 68.7% of the existing fishing ports.

"Hot" at the superior level but "cold" at the subordinate level

Talking to the press, Deputy Minister of MARD Phung Duc Tien also assessed the results of overcoming the "yellow card" have a certain distance from the EC’s recommendations.

One of the basic reasons is that localities have not really implemented tasks in a drastic way, while the Government, ministries, sectors and central agencies have directed drastically. "In other words, this situation is ’hot’ at the superior level but ’cold’ at the subordinate level”, said Tien.

Hung pointed out that some provinces and provincial leaders did not pay attention to inspection and supervision at fishing ports and fishing boat monitoring systems; local communities have not seriously reviewed the responsibilities of the heads. In addition, the handling of boat owners and captains for violations of illegal fishing in foreign waters was not serious enough.

The allocation of resources and funding to combat IUU fishing is still restricted and inadequate, especially as the lack of human resources at fishing ports does not meet the regulations on controlling fishing boats in and out of the ports, controlling arriving volume and certifying the origin of fishing materials.

It is expected that by the end of May, early June 2019, the Inspectorate of Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG-Mare) of the EU will come to Vietnam to check the implementation of the EC’s recommendations on combating IUU fishing. If the actual results do not meet the EC’s recommendations, a “red card” may be applied.

Therefore, MARD proposed that concerned ministries, sectors and People's Committees of 28 coastal provinces and cities under the Central Government should strive to mobilise resources and funding to perform key tasks and urgent solutions.

The Government Office proposed the Prime Minister issue a Decree on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of fisheries and proposed the Prime Minister issue a Decision on establishing a National Steering Committee for prevention and combat of IUU fishing.

The MARD will continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Government Office to submit to the Prime Minister to establish a National Steering Committee for combating IUU fishing; implement the 2017 Law on Fisheries and guiding documents for implementation, focusing on a number of key issues related to the fight against IUU fishing; issue a list of fishing ports designated for foreign fishing boats and fishing ports designated fishing boats with length of 15 meters or more, which must be completed immediately.

Moreover, the MARD cooperates with relevant ministries and agencies to check the responsibilities of localities in the implementation of combat against IUU fishing.

The Ministry of Defense presides over and works with relevant forces to strengthen patrol and control in overlapping and disputed areas where there are many fishing boats to prevent, strictly handle fishing boats in violation of IUU fishing, especially preventing and handling Vietnamese fishing boats with signs of violating foreign waters.

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By the end of May, early June 2019, the Inspectorate of DG-Mare will inspect the implementation of four groups of recommendation: (1) Legal framework; (2) The system for monitoring and controlling fishing boats; (3) Law enforcement; (4) Traceability of fisheries (Official Letter Ares No. 3356871 dated June 25, 2018).