Review records, handle violations
On January 29, representatives of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quang Tri province said that in the past 3 weeks, the province has synchronously implemented many solutions to control fishing vessels, trace the origin of aquatic products and handle violations related to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The Department of Agriculture and Environment has completed the review of administrative violation handling records and journey monitoring data (VMS), and reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment on time.
At the same time, the Provincial Steering Committee against IUU fishing has established an inter-sectoral dossier review team with the participation of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the Provincial Border Guard, the Department of Justice, the Provincial Inspectorate and the Provincial Police. The working group is continuing to review and summarize to report the results.
In the field of handling violations, Quang Tri Provincial Police are investigating and criminally handling fishing vessel QB 92098 TS of Mr. Ho Dang Quy (Dong Trach commune) for the act of discharging VMS equipment.
The Provincial Border Guard has handled fishing vessel QB 91524 TS that crossed the exploitation boundary; and is verifying 4 fishing vessels that lost VMS connection for more than 6 hours, including vessel BL 93962 TS of Ca Mau province and 3 fishing vessels with registration numbers QB, QT.
The Department of Agriculture and Environment has completed the handling of 2 fishing vessels NA-93368-TS and NA-99966-TS violating the boundary of the licensed fishing area.
Many shortcomings need to be overcome
According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Quang Tri province currently has 4,642 fishing vessels from 6 m and above, a decrease of 7 vessels compared to 3 weeks ago. The registration rate of fishing vessels reached 100%.
Registration work reached 94.4%, seafood exploitation license issuance reached 98.2%, and food safety eligibility certificate issuance reached 96.2%. For journey monitoring equipment, 98.9% of fishing vessels that are mandatory have VMS installed.
However, the whole province still has 130 fishing vessels that do not meet operating conditions, of which 112 vessels still exist in reality and 18 vessels have been sunk or no more vessels but have not been removed from registration. Localities with many vessels that do not meet conditions include Nam Gianh, Dong Trach, Hoa Trach and Dong Hoi.
In the past 3 weeks, the Border Guard force has controlled 1,843 turns of ships leaving port and 1,846 turns of ships entering port. Fishing ports monitored 1,379 turns of ships docking and 1,429 turns of ships leaving port.
The output of seafood loaded and unloaded through the port supervised reached 2,321 tons, equivalent to 30.6% of the total exploitation output in the period.
The implementation of eCDT electronic logbooks achieved positive results, with 100% of ship arrivals and departures from ports in the past 3 weeks being carried out in accordance with regulations.
Despite achieving many results, the work of combating IUU fishing in Quang Tri still has noteworthy shortcomings. Currently, there are still 4 fishing vessels violating VMS being administratively handled and 1 fishing vessel being criminally handled.
The rate of monitoring exploitation output, although increased, is still low, especially for small fishing vessels under 12 m operating in the littoral area, going to sea during the day.
In the coming time, the Department of Agriculture and Environment requests departments, branches and localities to continue to strictly implement the assigned tasks.
The Chairman of the Commune-level People's Committee is fully responsible for managing fishing vessels in the area, not allowing the emergence of "3 no" vessels, and vessels that do not meet the conditions to still operate. At the same time, accelerate the removal of registration of 18 no longer existing fishing vessels and complete the payment of VMS subscription fee support for fishermen.
The Provincial Border Guard Command and the Provincial Police continue to coordinate and thoroughly handle violations, contributing to improving the effectiveness of combating IUU fishing, towards the goal of sustainable fisheries development.
