Competent agencies in Ba Ria Vung Tau province popularise fisheries regulations to fishermen. (Photo: VNA)

A technical mission from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), led by Deputy Director General of the Directorate of Fisheries (D-Fish) Nguyen Quang Hung, held a working session with the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG-MARE) of the European Commission (EC) on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) on July 6-7.

The delegation updated the EC side on Vietnam's progress in implementing the EC’s recommendations, made by its inspection team to Vietnam in October 2022.

The two sides discussed and agreed on a number of issues related to provisions in the Decree amending Decree No. 26/2019/ND-CP on transferring fishing license quotas; the use of fishing vessel monitoring system (VMS); the responsibilities of suppliers of VMS installed on fishing vessels; the control of the legal origin of fishing vessels imported into Vietnam; and designated fishing ports.

They also considered the amendment of Article 70 on the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), and the supplementation of regulations on the control of aquatic products originating from fishing activities imported into Vietnam by container ships.

The Vietnamese side updated the EC side on the pace of deploying the management of offshore fishing vessels and vessels' movement through ports, and the supervision of fishing output at ports; the implementation of the Capture Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Protection Plan; the fisheries management plan; the traceability work to ensure that shipments exported to the European market are legal; and the enforcement of laws with a focus on handling vessels violating foreign water regulations and building a database on the handling of such violations from central to local levels.

According to Hung, the two sides have basically reached agreement on the discussed issues and the DG-MARE also agreed with the work that Vietnam has carried out.

The EC suggested that Vietnam take stronger measures to combat illegal fishing and put an end to fishing boats violating foreign waters, as well as to handle fishing vessels that lose VMS connection, he said.

The MARD and DG-MARE are scheduled to hold an online dialogue in September to continue to exchange and update the implementation of recommendations before the EC sends its inspection team to Vietnam to examine the country’s efforts on IUU fishing prevention and control in October.