Provincial authorities patrol and control fishing boats at sea.
Resolutely implementing Directive No. 32-CT/TW (dated April 10, 2024) of the Secretariat on strengthening the Party's leadership in combating IUU fishing and sustainable development of the fisheries sector, Thanh Hoa province has strengthened inspection and control of fishing activities at sea. The focus is on organizing management, reviewing and cleaning fishing vessel data on the national fisheries database system Vnfishbase; developing regulations on checking and cleaning data to serve the identification of fishing vessels; reviewing and making a list of vessels with expired and soon-to-expire administrative procedures...
Accordingly, from the beginning of 2025 to now, Thanh Hoa province has simultaneously launched inspections, controls, and handles violations in fishing in the province's waters. The Department of Agriculture and Environment, in coordination with the border guards, fisheries inspectors, and coastal localities, has organized 3 inspections on combating IUU fishing. Of which, there was 1 coordination session with the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Nam Dinh and Thai Binh provinces on the management, inspection, supervision, and handling of fishing vessels of Thanh Hoa province with high risk of violating IUU fishing that frequently dock in the waters of Thai Binh and Nam Dinh. At the same time, coordinate with functional forces of neighboring provinces to handle fishing vessels violating IUU, especially violations of losing connection to the journey monitoring device (GSHT), exceeding the permitted boundary when operating at sea.
Along with that, the Thanh Hoa Sea and Islands Sub-Department coordinated with the Provincial Border Guard Command (now the Border Guard Command under the Provincial Military Command), the Thanh Hoa Fisheries Inspection and Control Representative Office to organize an interdisciplinary team to conduct patrols, inspections, and controls in the coastal and offshore waters of Thanh Hoa province. The team inspected 15 vehicles, made records, and administratively fined 3 vehicles with a total amount of nearly 21 million VND for the acts of "Storing electric shock tools; not having a certificate for the captain, chief engineer of a fishing vessel".
In addition, the provincial forces also promote information, propaganda and training for officials and fishermen in coastal districts, towns and cities on the Fisheries Law and regulations on combating IUU fishing, updating knowledge on ensuring food safety, aquaculture and protecting aquatic resources...
According to statistics from the provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment, as of the end of June 2025, the whole province had 6,603 fishing vessels, of which 1,062 were 15m or longer. Of these, 1,056 fishing vessels had been equipped with VMS GPS devices; the remaining 6 vessels did not have GPS devices (including 4 vessels on shore and 2 vessels purchased from other provinces awaiting name change procedures). At the same time, the province has made a list of fishing vessels with 2,663/497 fishing vessels losing signal at sea for more than 6 hours and losing GPS connection at sea for 10 days to contact and investigate to clarify the cause.
Through regular inspection and supervision by the provincial authorities, there have been 79 cases/79 vehicles of the province violating regulations on combating IUU fishing and the Fisheries Law, with administrative fines of more than VND 880 million.
Thanh Hoa province has a long coastline with many river mouths and estuaries leading to the sea, which is both a potential and a big challenge for the authorities in inspecting, monitoring, managing and tracing vessels when there are violations. In addition, the implementation of solutions to combat IUU fishing in the province still has some limitations, such as: some ship owners/captains have not proactively extended paperwork when due; the situation of fishing vessels losing connection to the GSHT at sea for 10 days still occurs; the eCDT VN system does not have complete information about fishing vessels, names of aquatic species, and is not connected to online public services; the infrastructure of fishing ports and storm shelters for fishing vessels has not been invested in and upgraded in a timely manner, is not synchronous, and does not meet the EC's conditions on traceability of exploited aquatic products and combating IUU fishing...
At the online conference to deploy solutions to combat IUU fishing held in mid-June 2025, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of the province Nguyen Duc Cuong emphasized: In addition to strictly controlling fishing vessels in operation, the agricultural sector also coordinates with localities to investigate, verify, and establish digital records for fishing vessels at high risk of violations. Types of vessels monitored include: vessels that have been sold but not yet transferred, vessels on shore, vessels with expired licenses, expired registrations, and lost VMS connection... Regarding the work of combating IUU fishing, Thanh Hoa is not only determined but also takes practical actions to "remove the yellow card" by making efforts to tighten management from the mainland to the offshore area, ensuring that 100% of fishing vessels operating at sea are monitored through the VMS system and dock to unload their output in accordance with regulations.
Article and photos: Le Hoa
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/siet-chat-quan-ly-tau-ca-quyet-tam-go-the-vang-iuu-253558.htm
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