This is also an affirmation of Viet Nam’s commitment to a responsible, modern, and internationally integrated fishing industry.
Resolutely handling violations
At 9:00 p.m., soldiers of the Sam Son Border Guard Station Working Group and Squadron 2 (Thanh Hoa Provincial Border Guard Command) boarded boats to go to sea. At this time, when the tide rises, it is also the time when fishing vessels begin to leave the port and go out to sea.
With the task of ensuring that 100% of fishing vessels entering and leaving the port are inspected, promptly detecting violations of the law, especially leaving the port without sufficient documents and safety equipment, the border guards strictly carry out 24/24-hour duty.
Major Nguyen Huu Long (Quang Cu Control Station, Sam Son Border Guard Station) said: “Regardless of day or night, even in unfavourable weather conditions, the unit always clearly assigns each shift, assigns specific tasks to each comrade, ensures strict control, and does not miss fishing vessels that deliberately avoid inspection and control to go to sea for IUU fishing”.
In response to the urgent request to remove the “yellow card” of the European Commission (EC), localities in the Mekong Delta region have also focused on managing fishing vessels, strictly controlling port entry and exit activities, speeding up the investigation, prosecution, and trial of IUU violations.
An Giang and Ca Mau Provinces have large fishing fleets, large fishing grounds, and border the waters of many neighbouring countries, so the inspection and control of violations are very difficult and complicated.
However, with the high determination and synchronous participation of local authorities, the anti-IUU work of the two provinces has achieved many remarkable results. Notably, the investigation and trial of IUU violations are uncompromising, demonstrating the strictness and fairness of the law - an issue of particular concern to the EC.
By the end of October 2025, nearly 2,000 vessels with a length of 15m or more in Ca Mau Province had installed VMS; there were no more “3 Nos” vessels (no registration, no inspection, no license). Vice Chairman of the Ca Mau Provincial People’s Committee, Le Van Su, said that the province had detected and handled more than 470 administrative violations in the fisheries sector with a total fine of more than 10 billion VND, including 43 violations of disconnecting VMS. All cases were updated in the management software.
According to the Steering Committee for Combating IUU Fishing in An Giang Province, regarding the verification and handling of 425 vessels that violated the disconnection of the voyage monitoring device (VMS) and crossed the border, by the end of October 2025, the Provincial Working Group had worked with 374 vessels; cleared 185 vessels, and fined 92 vessels with a total fine of more than 5.4 billion VND. The remaining fishing vessels are being handled urgently.
To further improve the handling of legal violations related to IUU fishing, Deputy Director of the Department of Fisheries and Fisheries Control, Vu Duyen Hai, said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has submitted to the Government, for consideration and promulgation, a Decree amending and supplementing Decree No.37/2024/ND-CP, and Decree No.38/2024/ND-CP (on the implementation of the Fisheries Law and sanctioning administrative violations in the fisheries field); under which acts and subjects of violations (including organisations and individuals purchasing, processing, exporting aquatic products without complying with regulations, or intentionally violating) are clarified, and the level of penalties increased, while expanding the authority of law enforcement agencies to sanction.
Accompanying fishermen
With nearly 1,300 fishing vessels, Long Hai commune is the locality with the largest fishing fleet in Ho Chi Minh City. However, of these, up to 160 vessels are not qualified to go to sea due to lack of registration documents, or the vessels were sold outside the province without transfer of ownership, or because the vessel owner could not be found.
Recently, Phuoc Tinh Border Guard Station and Long Hai Commune authorities have disseminated various information on combating IUU fishing to fishermen, such as the programmes “Breakfast with fishermen”, “Morning coffee with fishermen”, and periodically broadcast on the commune loudspeaker about the regulations in the Fisheries Law.
Vice Chairman of Long Hai Commune People’s Committee Nguyen Minh Tam said that through these close meetings, they conveyed to fishermen the policies and guidelines of the Party and Government on combating IUU fishing, and at the same time listened to their thoughts and aspirations to promptly resolve difficulties, helping fishermen expand their livelihoods, feel secure in sticking to the sea, and going out to sea for long periods of time.
At those meetings, many opinions from the people were submitted to the government, such as the difficulties in registering old fishing boats after replacing used engines, which has caused dozens of boats to be grounded; or the complicated process of buying and selling boats between provinces and cities, where only handwritten documents are accepted and ownership cannot be officially transferred.
The Gia Lai Provincial People’s Council met and passed a resolution on support policies for fishermen during the period of career transition on October 27. The beneficiaries are fishing boat owners and members of the boat owner’s household, with the support level calculated in cash equivalent to 30 kg of rice/person/month. In addition, each boat owner's household will also receive 3 million VND/month from September to the end of December 2025. The total estimated implementation cost is about 8.8 billion VND.
At the 20th meeting of the National Steering Committee on Combating IUU Fishing on November 4, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested provinces and cities to develop a project on career conversion for fishermen. In the immediate future, the Government will support rice every three months, the Party Committee and the commune authorities will take care of food and career conversion planning for these cases, both mobilising and sanctioning administrative and criminal violations in the spirit of ensuring equality before the law.
Over the past 8 years, the Vietnamese fisheries industry has had a journey full of effort and perseverance to remove the IUU “yellow card” with many reforms and changes. Implementing the Government's direction, and determined to declare war on IUU fishing and remove the IUU yellow card at all costs, ministries, branches, and localities must to take substantive and rapid actions, avoiding no responsibility, with the goal of developing sustainable fisheries for the benefit of the people and the country.
