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| Fishing vessel owners sign a commitment not to violate IUU fishing__Photo: VNA |
As part of the peak month of combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the southern province of Ca Mau is intensifying management, communication, and supervision efforts to promptly detect and prevent local fishing vessels from infringing upon foreign waters.
The provincial People’s Committee has ordered the removal of certain fishing ports from the list of certified eCDT traceability ports to ensure the transparent and lawful verification of seafood origins. Authorities have also been tasked with compiling a list of eligible private fishing ports for official recognition and recording the volume of seafood landed at these ports.
Ca Mau continues to review and classify 483 vessels unfit for operation, nine unregistered vessels, and 12 vessels yet to install voyage monitoring systems (VMS). The province is also handling and monitoring 300 controlled vessels and tracing 183 ships that remain unverified.
Particular attention has been given to verifying and strictly handling captains and crew members involved in foreign water violations, as well as investigating vessels suspected of operating in Malaysian waters. The province is finalizing 40 pending cases related to VMS violations and enforcing 25 unresolved penalty decisions.
To date, Ca Mau no longer has any “three-no” vessels (no registration, no license, and no VMS). All 5,230 active fishing vessels required to install VMS devices have done so.
The province has detected and handled over 470 administrative violations in the fisheries sector, imposing fines totaling over VND 10 billion (nearly USD 380,000). All cases have been digitally recorded in management software to ensure transparent monitoring.
The province’s information technology infrastructure at fishing ports meets requirements for supporting fishermen in updating data to the eCDT system and maintaining electronic fishing logbooks. All vessels 15m or longer now report port departures and arrivals through the eCDT system. Traceability is implemented from the moment vessels leave port until catch origin certificates are issued.
Ca Mau will continue efforts to digitize, trace, and handle all violating or high-risk vessels, and complete the updating of vessel identification data on the national fisheries database (VNFishbase) and the VNeID population database. Preparations are also underway for the upcoming fifth inspection mission of the European Commission (EC).
Three task forces have been established to verify and trace vessels operating outside the province, especially those sold or transferred without proper documentation, ensuring compliance and transparency in all cases.- (VNA/VLLF)
