Kien Giang continues to take firm stand against IUU fishing
The Standing Board of the Party Committee of southern Kien Giang province has called for strengthening the Party's leadership in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, part of a broader national effort to have the “yellow card” warning lifted by the European Commission (EC).
The Standing Board asked the Party Civil Affairs Board of the provincial People’s Committee to actively disseminate the 2017 Fisheries Law, the Government decrees on administrative penalties in the fisheries sector, and the resolution issued by the Supreme People's Court's Council of Justices that guides certain provisions of the Penal Code regarding criminal liability for illegal fishing, trade and transport of seafood.
Leaders of local administrations, departments and agencies who have shown negligence in addressing IUU fishing will face strict penalties.
To ensure compliance, the province will intensify inspecting and monitoring the use of the vessel monitoring systems (VMS) on fishing vessels to guarantee that they operate round the clock, thoroughly deal with the vessels without registration, examination or licence, complete updating the fisheries database, boost seafood origin tracing via the eCDT software, and closely monitor vessels operating at fishery ports.
Since the start of this year, Kien Giang has recorded 10 cases involving 14 fishing vessels violating foreign waters for illegal fishing. Over 1,330 instances of fishing vessels losing connection signals from their VMS at sea have been identified.
The Standing Board attributed the problem to not only fishermen's limited awareness but also some Party committees, organisations, administrations, and officials' lack of responsibility or strong actions in the IUU fishing combat.
