Khanh Hoa fishermen prepare to set sail for the first fishing trip of the New Year. Photo: VNA  

The European Commission (EC)’s fifth inspection delegation on the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is scheduled to visit Vietnam from March 9 to 19, according to the Department of Fishery and Fisheries Surveillance under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.|

To ensure thorough and coordinated preparations, the department has asked the Departments of Agriculture and Environment in coastal provinces and cities with fishing fleets to urgently finalise concise and comprehensive reports for working sessions with the EC delegation. All data must be logical, verifiable and consistent with the national fisheries database (VNFishbase) and other relevant systems.

Dossiers must be arranged scientifically and be readily accessible in both hard copy and electronic formats to promptly meet the delegation’s requests.

Specialised agencies are required to prepare complete documentation, including records on vessel registration, inspection and fishing licences; vessels removed from the registry; those ineligible for operation; and boats not properly marked with registration numbers.

Local authorities must prepare files on vessels violating IUU regulations and administrative sanction records for related organisations and individuals. Penalty decisions must be accompanied by receipts and proof of fine payment. Other required documents include records on voyage monitoring system (VMS) management; cases of vessels losing VMS connection or encroaching beyond permitted maritime boundaries; and dossiers on seafood landed at ports.

Simplified catch certificates (SC) for seafood landed at fishing ports and catch certificates (CC) certifying the origin of caught seafood issued by fisheries management agencies must be completed in line with regulations. Authorities are also requested to fully prepare records on the control of vessels entering and leaving ports and on the supervision of landed output.

The Departments of Agriculture and Environment have been told to assign leaders to directly oversee preparations and arrange experienced officials with firm command of the data to work with the EC inspectors. Round-the-clock duty must be maintained during the delegation’s stay, with proactive coordination among relevant forces, including the Border Guard, police and local administrations, to provide explanations and documents when required.

During the inspection period, strict measures must be enforced to control vessel departures and arrivals, ensuring that all vessels subject to mandatory VMS installation maintain uninterrupted connections. All seafood landed through ports must be closely monitored, while regulations on catch and origin certification must be strictly implemented.

Localities are instructed to review and update all fishing vessel data on VNFishbase and VMS systems to ensure consistency between paper dossiers and electronic records. They must completely handle “three Nos” vessels (no registration, no ownership, no fishing licences) and update all violation-handling results on the software system.

Authorities must refuse port clearance for vessels failing to meet operational conditions, those that have not remedied violations, or those losing VMS connection. They must also be ready for on-site inspections at fishing ports, anchorage areas and fisheries offices.

Daily rapid reports are to be submitted to the department to seek timely guidance on issues beyond local authority. No fishing vessels are allowed to encroach foreign waters during the EC delegation’s visit.

The department urged coastal localities to treat these tasks as urgent and critical, contributing to efforts to have the EC’s “yellow card” warning on Vietnamese seafood exports lifted./.