Quang Ngai asked to roll out measures to end illegal fishing
Acting Director of the Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Ngoc Oai has asked the central province of Quang Ngai to apply strong measures to end local fishermen’s violations in foreign waters.
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The locality should join hands with ministries and sectors to bring Vietnam out of the EU’s “yellow card” list, he said.
A report of the Quang Ngai People’s Committee showed that as of November 2017, the province had 5,580 fishing vessels with total capacity of more than 1,600 CV, over 1,300 of which often operated offshore. The vessels employ a total of about 38,000 labourers.
As of December this year, 29 local fishing vessels had been interrupted by Chinese vessels while operating in waters around Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago, three of which were sunken.
However, some illegal fishing cases have also been reported. Nguyen Quang Trung, Vice Chairman of the Binh Son district People’s Committee, said the problem mostly arises due to fishermen’s lack of awareness.
Le Thanh Tan, Vice Chairman of the Duc Pho district People’s Committee pointed to shortcomings in communication work, as well as weak punishments.
A Quang Ngai city representative suggested urging fishermen to sign commitments not to violate fishing regulations, while designing policies to encourage them to operate in Hoang Sa waters and banning violated vessels from fishing.
