The EC spoke highly of Vietnam’s cooperation and transparency, noting that Vietnam’s legal framework fully meets international standards. At the local level, Khanh Hoa Province, which was subject to inspection, also worked closely with the EC.
However, the inspection team also pointed out Vietnam’s drawbacks, stating that there is a marked difference between localities in controlling IUU fishing. The team made several recommendations for Vietnam and required the country to send a report on the implementation progress by May 15, 2023, before conducting the fourth inspection. The EC also stated that next time the locality under inspection will not be informed when the team will arrive and the yellow card can only be removed when there are no fishing vessels violating foreign waters.
The EC’s fourth inspection team is scheduled to arrive in Vietnam in early June 2023. This inspection is crucial to the removal of the yellow card on Vietnam’s fishery sector. Therefore, concerned ministries, agencies, forces, and localities need to take bold actions to achieve the most favourable results.
Following the conclusion of the third inspection, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has identified a number of key tasks. Accordingly, localities are requested to promptly establish a fisheries surveillance force to carry out tasks on combating IUU fishing. Local authorities also need to arrange sufficient human and financial resources, as well as equipment for the relevant agencies to fulfil their tasks.
Another important task is to strictly control the fishing fleet. Localities must enumerate and categorise their current fishing vessels. If vessels lacking in registration documents are found, the issue should be reported to the MARD to seek guidance so that all operating vessels must be registered, licensed and equipped with vessel monitoring systems (VMS). For those on the blacklist or with high risk of overstepping the fishing boundaries, government budget will be used to install VMS on such vessels for tracking.
All localities must complete this task by the end of May 15, 2023.
Concerning VMS installation, localities must verify and penalise all vessels not maintaining VMS and update them to the MARD’s administrative fine database. The vessels captured by foreign countries must be investigated and punished in line with the law and such incidents must be widely covered in mass media.
Concerning origin tracking, it is necessary to ensure all export shipments to the EC and some other markets requiring certificates of origin must have all the required proof. The products exported from Vietnam and made from imported materials and domestically produced materials must have a clear origin.
After three inspections, Vietnam has made positive progresses on the right track in addressing IUU fishing, but the country still needs to make greater efforts in the coming months in order to have the yellow card removed.
