Disseminating information on the fight against IUU fishing for fishermen. Photo: VNA  

Implementing the Prime Minister’s instructions, Chairman of the People’s Committee of An Giang province Ho Van Mung, head of the provincial steering committee on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, has requested local Party committees, authorities and relevant departments to urgently and effectively carry out comprehensive measures to prevent IUU fishing.

Accordingly, the provincial People’s Committee Office has sent SMS messages to local residents to raise awareness of IUU fishing prevention, while functional forces have stepped up dissemination of the Fisheries Law, guiding documents and regulations.

Working teams have been established to visit households, vessel owners, captains and crew members to disseminate regulations and encourage serious compliance, while self-management groups, public security forces and border guards have coordinated to hold community meetings. Under regulations, if fishing vessels are not registered, inspected and licensed, they may face fines of up to 1 billion VND (38,000 USD). Captains and vessel owners must ensure 24/7 operation of vessel monitoring systems (VMS) from departure to arrival. Fishing in foreign waters is strictly prohibited, with penalties of up to 1 billion VND and imprisonment of up to 15 years.

Local authorities are tasked with reviewing and accurately identifying “three-no’s” fishing vessels (without registration, inspection and licenses), guiding them through legal procedures, and taking responsibility if such vessels continue to arise.

At the same time, vessels that fail to meet operational requirements, such as expired registration or licenses, will be strictly controlled under the “four clear” principle: clear current status, clear anchoring position, clear supervising personnel and clear ownership.

For vessels no longer present locally, authorities will declare them missing and deregister them after one year in line with regulations. Information on missing or non-compliant vessels will be publicised via provincial media and shared with the Coast Guard Region 4, Navy Region 5, Fisheries Resources Surveillance Region 5 and Border Guard forces for coordinated monitoring.

According to Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Environment Le Huu Toan, alongside administrative measures, the province is preparing a resolution to support households with vessels unqualified for fishing activities. The department will also submit a plan on livelihood transition for affected fishermen to the provincial People's Committee.

The department and provincial Border Guard forces will ensure sufficient resources for vessel inspection, continue intensified patrols, and strictly handle fishing violations. Meanwhile, the provincial inspectorate will review dossiers of vessels violating VMS regulations and other illegally operating in foreign waters.

To date, 9,789 fishing vessels in An Giang have been updated in the national VNFishbase database. Since early this year, inspection forces have carried out 138 vessel checks and detected 53 vessels showing signs of violations./.