Kien Giang steps up IUU-related communication work
The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang is stepping up communications work and strictly dealing with violations relating to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Lam Minh Thanh, who is also head of the provincial Steering Committee on IUU, requested the Department of Information and Communications to coordinate with local media agencies and relevant sectors to deploy communication activities about the province's efforts and drastic measures against IUU fishing.
Dissemination campaigns and training sessions should be strengthened to raise awareness of vessel owners and captains about this work, contributing to the overall efforts to have the European Commission’s "yellow card" against Vietnamese seafoof removed.
More than 120 vessel owners have signed commitments to not violating foreign waters after being persuaded.
Departments, agencies and localities in the province have organised more than 400 dissemination activities reaching nearly 30,000 fishermen, vessel owners, captains and distributed 22,766 leaflets on combating IUU fishing, thereby contributing to enhancing awareness among fishermen, preventing and reducing the number of fishing boats infringing on foreign waters.
Since the beginning of this year, no local fishing vessels have been found infringing foreign waters.
Kien Giang has established an information channel to manage local fishing vessels, keeping close supervision on the number of vessels; those whose registration and licenses have expired as well as those that have not yet installed vessel monitoring system (VMS).
According to the provincial Steering Committee on IUU, Kien Giang is determined to strictly handle vessels without certificates that prove their seaworthiness (vessels with 3 Nos) and guide vessel owner on registration procedures and update their fishing data into the National Fisheries Database. The functional agencies monitor all fishing vessels operating at sea through VMS, and strictly deal with violation relating to connection loss.
Kien Giang has a 200km coastline, 143 small and large islands, and a sea area of more than 63,000 sq. km. According to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, 95.5% of the local fishing vessels have been licensed and 99.3% have installed VMS./.
VNA
