Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Duc Cuong said that the department has sent an official dispatch to the Sub-department of Fishery, fish port management boards, and fishery inspection offices of the provincial Border Guard Command, requiring them to increase patrols, inspections and control of fishing vessels at estuaries and at sea.
Any vessel which does not have sufficient documents and equipment on board as regulated will not be allowed to operate at sea, and all violations will be punished strictly, he said.
To date, 98.7% of the fishing vessels in the province have been equipped with the vessel monitoring system (VMS).
The province has also stepped up the communication work and requested ship owners to sign commitments to complying with anti-IUU fishing regulations.
Cuong said that Thanh Hoa also established an inter-sectoral inspection team, led by Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Le Duc Giang, to combat IUU fishing violations. The team is in charge of inspecting fishing ports and wharves and prepare dossiers and documents if the EC inspection team comes to Thanh Hoa to inspect how the province has done to tackle the commission’s warning on IUU fishing.
