Infrastructure at fishing ports has yet to receive the attention it needs in many localities, and this should be addressed quickly to develop a modern and responsible fisheries sector, officials have said.
This morning, the Con Co Border Guard Command in the Central Province of Quang Tri spread information against Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which means capturing a wide variety of fishing activity including illegal fishing, unreported fishing, and unregulated fishing.
For four years, the Government and ministries, state agencies have encouraged Vietnamese fishermen to upgrade their fishing capacity and strictly observe international laws. Lately, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directed that the fisheries industry try their best in 2021 to be lifted from the European Commission’s warning of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) a long time ago.
Numerous stronger measures have been implemented by 28 coastal provinces and cities nationwide in the past four years in a bid to prevent and combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, towards developing a sustainable fishery sector, having the European Commission (EC)’s “yellow card” lifted and promoting Vietnam’s seafood exports.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), on June 10, held an online conference on solutions to improve the efficiency of fishing, processing, and consuming aquatic products in 2021.
According to the Vietnam Directorate of Fisheries, with 82 percent of fishing vessels equipped with vessel monitoring systems, traceability and the application of culturing area codes have significantly improved. However, if there is still one fishing vessel that has not registered or illegally exploits, the European Commission (EC) will continue to keep a yellow card or even give a red card to Vietnam.
Removing the European Commission (EC)’s illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing “yellow card” is not easy and cannot be done overnight, but the Vietnamese business community and associations are still determined to do, not only to meet EU requirements, but also for the sake of sustainable fishery development.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), after implementing the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement for two months, the export of agricultural products to the EU has seen positive changes with the total agricultural export value from August 1 to the end of September estimated at US$711 million.
The EU has always been the second-largest market of Vietnam's aquatic export. When the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) takes effect, aquatic exports to the EU are expected to grow robustly.
Seafood exports of Vietnam to the EU market have been affected seriously, dropping by 6.5 percent to nearly US$390 million in 2018 and continuing to be stagnant in the first eight months of this year with $251 million after two years since the European Commission issued an official card warning against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) exploitation on Vietnamese seafood.
