Vietnam tightens fishing controls ahead of sixth EC inspection
Vietnam has completed 31 of the European Commission’s 38 recommendations as it seeks to have its fisheries yellow card lifted.
Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Dung has directed ministries and local authorities to strengthen fishing enforcement and seafood traceability ahead of the European Commission’s sixth inspection, as the country seeks removal of its yellow card warning.
By September 30, Vietnam had completed 31 of the EC’s 38 recommendations, with results that could be verified. Work on five was continuing under defined road maps. Two remained subject to discussions because their requirements were considered incompatible with local conditions and Vietnam’s legal framework.
Dung said Vietnam had introduced nationwide digital management to track fishing vessels, replacing paper-based administration since the committee’s July meeting. He said violations and foreign detentions had declined sharply, but cautioned authorities against complacency.
His instructions covered preventing foreign detentions, keeping ineligible boats from operating, resolving vessel-monitoring violations, ensuring seafood shipments could be traced and matching reports to actual records. He also called for a dedicated agriculture ministry team to communicate regularly with the EC, border-guard monitoring at ports and stronger criminal investigations into illegal fishing and fraudulent seafood origins.
A further 1,247 deregistered vessels may still exist and need verification and monitoring. Another 5,586 vessels are ineligible to operate, while 2,961 are considered at high risk of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing violations. Local authorities were instructed to update the national VNFishbase database and strictly control unlicensed boats.
In Ho Chi Minh City, administration vice-chairman Bui Minh Thanh said all vessels deemed ineligible to operate had been anchored, with coordinates and images recorded. The city had 385 such vessels as of September.
The EC imposed the warning in October 2017 over shortcomings in combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. It did not prohibit seafood imports but subjected Vietnamese fisheries to greater scrutiny.
