Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)

Binh Dinh – The south central coastal province of Binh Dinh has issued a plan to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing till 2025.

By 2025, all fishing ships with a length of 15m and above must be marked and equipped with a vessel monitoring system. Before leaving the port, they must have all documents and equipment checked. These ships will be monitored via the vessel monitoring system.

The province also strives to have all domestically-caught aquatic products checked and inspected when being handled at seaports in line with regulations.

It also aims to prevent and put an end to the illegal exploitation of aquatic products by fishing vessels and fishermen in foreign waters, and to prevent it from recurring in the following years; minimise and eliminate IUU fishing, and have the European Commission’s "yellow card" warning against Vietnamese seafood lifted.

To such end, the provincial People’s Committee asked relevant units to raise awareness of legal regulations among all stakeholders, enhance the management and granting of fishing licences for vessels according to the quota, build a synchronous fishing infrastructure at Tam Quan and De Gi fishing ports to meet the requirements of post-fishing services and traceability of aquatic products.

Inspection over fishing vessels when entering and leaving fishing ports in the province will be enhanced while violations in the fisheries sector will be seriously punished.