On the evening of October 7, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the 16th meeting of the National Steering Committee on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, online with 21 coastal provinces and cities.
Concluding the meeting, the Prime Minister frankly pointed out that the results of the change are still slow compared to the requirements and direction of the Prime Minister.
Of which, there are currently 8,508 fishing vessels that have not been licensed; 9,066 fishing vessels are not qualified to operate due to not being registered, not having a valid license, not installing VMS; 249 fishing vessels have not installed VMS; the handling of fishing vessels that have lost connection for 10 days and crossed the sea boundary of the 24m vessel block that violated the previous law has not changed compared to last week.
In the coming time, the Prime Minister requested that the Chairmen of the People's Committees of 21 provinces and cities must directly direct the completion of the installation of VMS equipment for fishing vessels.
The Ministry of Public Security coordinates with the People's Court, competent agencies and sectors and localities to urgently investigate, prosecute and try outstanding IUU violations based on the law and Resolution of the National Assembly.
The Ministry of Justice coordinates with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to urgently complete and submit to the Prime Minister to issue a Decree amending and supplementing Decree 38 on sanctions for administrative violations in the fisheries sector in a strong enough direction, with enough deterrence to prevent IUU fishing, to be completed before October 15.
The Prime Minister requested that there be a specific plan and roadmap by November 15, 2025 to completely handle 4 existing problems and shortcomings in the fight against IUU fishing, including: fleet management; monitoring, controlling, and supervising fishing vessel activities; traceability; law enforcement, handling violations.
The Ministry of National Defense shall preside over the implementation of measures to ensure that there are no fishing vessels violating foreign waters; continue to strengthen close supervision forces, report the list of fishing vessels passing through border stations, violating regulations in foreign waters, violating foreign waters.
The Ministry of Public Security urges and guides the handling of violations of thoroughly handling fishing vessels that lose VMS connection, cross borders, and violate foreign waters in some key localities such as: Ca Mau, An Giang, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Gia Lai, Lam Dong, Dong Thap, to be completed before October 15, 2025.
Direct local police to coordinate with competent authorities to clearly identify the owners of fishing vessels that have been deleted due to missing notice, export, sale, donation, and completion before November 15, 2025.
The head of the Government directed the Chairmen of the People's Committees of coastal provinces and cities to allocate resources to resolutely and seriously implement measures to combat IUU fishing; focus on completing the implementation and sending a report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment before October 14, 2025.
Localities administratively sanction all serious IUU fishing activities discovered up to now; clearly identify the origin and causes of fishing vessels that have not been registered in the locality; coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security to complete criminal trials of cases that have been prosecuted according to the provisions of law.
Coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security to clearly identify the owner of the fishing vessel whose registration has been deleted due to a notice of loss, export, sale, or donation.
