The fishery sector has been working to implement recommendations by the European Commission (EC) for the past two years to remove its illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) yellow card warning.

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

The south central coastal province of Khanh Hoa, for example, has gained profits thanks to measures taken to tackle IUU such as non-infringement of foreign waters and clear traceability of raw materials that helps boost prices.

Head of the provincial fisheries sub-department Nguyen Trong Chanh said the EC’s recommendations are welcomed. The province has strengthened measures to punish fishing vessels that violate foreign waters.

The province now has 430 ships equipped with GPS, and the remaining vessels will all be installed with the equipment in the first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, owners of fishing vessels in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang have been informed of the importance of surveillance equipment.

As of February, the province had installed GPS equipment on 189 vessels. All the remaining 106 will be equipped with tracking and monitoring devices by April.

In October 2017, Vietnam received a “yellow card” warning for ilegal seafood exploitation by the EC, which has seriously hit seafood exports to the European market.

To cope with the situation, many businesses have taken the initiative to check traceability. 

Together with these efforts, authorised units have joined hands to combat illegal fishing.

Vietnam has carefully studied the legal framework to combat IUU with advice from the EC to have the yellow card rescinded.