Ba Ria-Vung Tau levies heavy fines on vessels violating IUU fishing regulations, Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Ba Ria-Vung Tau – Authorities of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau have so far this year handled 33 violations of regulations against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, mostly those related to vessel monitoring system (VMS), according to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The department said that local authorities have sent warning messages to 6,673 fishing vessels that stayed unconnected for six hours, along with 179 others with no VMS signals for more than 10 days.

The agencies collected fines totaling 822 million VND (33,367 USD) from vessels found to be in violation of the regulations.

As part of its efforts to strengthen control over movements of fishing vessels, the department is working closely with other forces to manage the fleet of fishing vessels in the locality, erasing the registration of vessels that no longer operate, and encouraging vessels to strictly follow regulations in registration, VMS installation, and food safety rules.

The province has deployed personnel to be on duty 24/7 at onshore stations to monitor and supervise all fishing vessels operating at sea through the fishing vessel monitoring system, while strictly handling violations of regulations and illegal crossing of sea borders.

Currently, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has 4,578 operating fishing vessels, including 2,745 offshore ones, 96.72% of which have installed VMS.

Nguyen Van Tho, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said that it has requested the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Border Guard High Command as well as localities across the province to further review and handle vessels with expired registration and those without VMS signals.

The committee has also asked for tightened control over origin traceability and the issuance of export licences at fishing ports, and the installation of cameras to manage movements of vessels at ports and the volume of seafood handled by ports.