Foreign fishing ships can only conduct fishery activities in Vietnam’s seas, which are defined as sea areas under the sovereignty, sovereignty rights and jurisdiction of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the June 26, 2003 Law on National Borders and treaties between Vietnam and other nations, after obtaining permission of Vietnamese authorities.
This is one of the four principles on fishery activities of foreign fishing vessels in Vietnam’s seas specified in Government Decree No. 32/2010/ND-CP of March 30, effective on June 1, in replacement of Decree No. 191/2004/ND-CP of November 18, 2004.
As compared to Decree No. 191, the new regulation specifies seven conditions for a foreign fishing ship to be granted an initial fishing permission, including a new condition that such a ship must have onboard at least one person who has good command of English or Vietnamese language.
Fishing permission will be granted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development within 10 working days after filing for each fishing ship and valid for 12 months (for fishing) or 24 months (for other fishery activities) and extendable for three times for an extension of 12 months. A fishing ship owner may apply for permission for many fishing ships.
Another new provision is fishery supervision. The Fishery Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will send one or two watchmen to supervise activities of a foreign fishing ship in Vietnam’s seas. These watchmen are authorized to request officers and crewmembers to observe Vietnamese law and shipmasters to navigate their ships to the nearest ports in case of detecting serious violations of Vietnamese law, and to watch and inspect all activities onboard and use all communication devices of foreign fishing ships.
At least seven days before entering Vietnam’s seas, foreign fishing ships should notify themselves by fax, email or post to the Fishery Administration of Vietnam.