Ba Ria - Vung Tau gears up for EC inspection with "peak month" plan
The People's Committee of the southern province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau has issued a plan to launch a peak month in the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, and prepared for the fifth working session with the European Commission (EC)’s inspection team.
As scheduled, the province will conduct a thorough review to verify that all fishing vessels operating in the province are properly registered, licensed and equipped with mandatory vessel monitoring systems (VMSs).
The province will also crack down on vessels which remove VMSs, which can facilitate unauthorised fishing and other IUU violations.
It has so far completed a review of the entire registered fishing fleet, updating their information in the national database.Additionally, issues raised by the EC team in October 2023 have been addressed, particularly those concerning two fishing ports and eight vessels without registration numbers.
According to the provincial authorities, nearly 97% of fishing vessels have had their VMSs installed while over 96% have held licenses for offshore fishing activities.
Since August 2022, no local fishing vessels have been caught violating fishing regulations in foreign waters.
