Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, on the southeastern coast of Vietnam, has proposed the European Commission (EC) provide it with professional assistance, experts, and funding for combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing to promote responsible and sustainable aquatic havesting.

The province has made the proposal as a 12-member EC mission is expected to conduct an inspection of anti-IUU fishing in Ba Ria - Vung Tau on Tuesday, the first day of the inspecting period that will last until October 18.

This is the EC's fourth inspection since the Vietnamese seafood industry was given an IUU ‘yellow card’ warning by the commission in 2017.

Over the past six years, Ba Ria - Vung Tau has gained positive outcomes in the implementation of the EU’s 12 recommendations on anti-IUU fishing, local authorities said. 

The local administration asked the EC to provide it with specialists as well as technical and professional assistance to help it promote the efficiency of the fight against IUU fishing in the future. 

The province also seeks the EC’s sharing of experience in controlling and tracing the origin of aquatic materials.

In addition, Ba Ria-Vung Tau authorities suggested the EC to provide funding and experts for the province, as well as Vietnam in general, to build an advanced fisheries management model and upgrade fishing ports in order to better meet the EC’s anti-IUU fishing requirements. 

“We affirm our strong commitment to prevent, deter, and eliminate IUU fishing, thereby building a responsible and sustainable fishing industry for the province,” Nguyen Cong Vinh, deputy chairman of the provincial administration, emphasized.

In a dispatch issued last week, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged more efforts from all relevant authorities and agencies to fulfill all EC requirements on combating IUU fishing so that the ‘yellow card’ could be removed soon.  

So far this year, Ba Ria - Vung Tau authorities have dealt with more than 100 violations related to IUU fishing, issuing a total fine of over US$2.3 billion (US$94,300), but no local vessels have been seized by foreign authorities for illegally fishing in foreign waters.

To date, cruise monitoring equipment has been installed on 2,673 fishing vessels, or 96.4 percent, of the province’s fishing fleet, and many checkpoints have been set up to monitor the fishing vessels’ activities on a 24/7 basis, the provincial administration said.

Ba Ria - Vung Tau has fully captured its updated fishing vessel data into the national fisheries database (VNFishbase), issued food safety certificates to 2,734 fishing vessels, or 98.6 percent, of its fishing fleet, and granted operation licenses to more than 95 percent of the fleet.

Over the first nine months of 2023, the province monitored 6,979 ships leaving ports and 6,764 others arriving at the ports, with a total throughput of 53,838 tonnes of aquatic products.

During the above period, local authorities also issued certificates of origin for about 4,900 tonnes of seafood.

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