Through inspecting and implementing the European Commission’s recommendations, the fight against IUU fishing in the city has seen many positive signs of progress. With a total of 978 fishing vessels with a length of 6m or more, of which 868 vessels are qualified to exploit fishery and have been registered on the National Fishery Database (VNFishbase). There are still 110 registered fishing vessels not qualified to operate. These vessels are now under close management and monitoring. For ships in operation, they must follow all regulations on installing the vessel monitoring system (VMS), fishing licenses, and food safety appliances. Besides, fishermen’s awareness of combating illegal seafood exploitation has gradually improved; fishermen and ship owners have taken the records, diaries, catch reports, etc., seriously.
It is expected that the European Commission (EC)’s 5th inspection will take place around September or October. Therefore, Hai Phong City is focusing on handling IUU fishing, making efforts with 28 provinces and coastal cities to remove EC’s “yellow card” for Vietnamese seafood products regarding illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing./.
