Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has just signed Official Dispatch No. 122/CD-TTg dated July 25, 2025, requesting ministries, branches and localities to strengthen the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
According to the dispatch, from the beginning of 2025 to now, there have been 16 fishing vessels that have been detained and handled by foreign countries; 13 fishing vessels with fake license plates, without registration numbers, with 90 fishermen working on the vessels who are Vietnamese violators being arrested and handled.
The main reason is that law enforcement and handling of serious violations of IUU fishing are still very weak, not unified and comprehensive.
The situation of pushing, avoiding responsibility and not excluding the possibility of negativity leads to the same violation that one locality handles, while another locality is slow or does not handle according to the provisions of law.
The heads of a number of agencies and localities have not paid attention to the leadership and direction of the implementation of the task of combating IUU fishing according to the direction of the Secretariat, the Government and the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to preside over and coordinate with the Ministries of National Defense, Public Security, Foreign Affairs and Justice to continue organizing interdisciplinary working groups to inspect, urge, and guide localities and promptly rectify and handle IUU fishing violations, ensuring thorough handling of fishing vessels violating serious IUU fishing behaviors.
Handling according to authority or proposing to competent authorities to handle responsibilities for coastal organizations, individuals and localities that have not strictly implemented tasks to combat IUU fishing. Complete before August 30.
The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of National Defense to preside over, coordinate and coordinate with the central and local law enforcement forces at sea to conduct a peak period of patrolling, controlling and handling "3 no" fishing vessels (not registered, not inspected, not licensed) on islands, river mouths, and beaches of coastal localities, especially in the southern provinces, to be completed before August 20, 2025.
Mobilize and concentrate resources for seaborder stations and stations to patrol and control fishing vessels entering and leaving ports; ensure that fishing vessels entering and leaving ports through stations and border stations participating in seafood exploitation activities must have confirmation of leaving ports from fishing ports.
Ships entering the port through border stations and stations must be notified to the fishing port, commune police, and local authorities for control and handling if they do not dock at the port to unload exploited aquatic products according to regulations.
Do not let fishing vessels that are not qualified to participate in activities, focus on implementing management measures in key areas where fishing vessels and fishermen are violating, especially in the Southwest region.
The Ministry of Public Security directs the police of units and localities to urgently investigate, collect records, documents, and evidence to criminally handle organizations and individuals who seriously violate IUU fishing according to the provisions of law, to be completed before August 30, 2025.
In case there is not enough evidence for criminal proceedings, the file will be transferred to the competent authority to handle the administrative violation according to the provisions of law, to be completed before August 20, 2025.
Chairmen of the People's Committees of coastal provinces and cities are responsible to the Prime Minister if they do not complete the tasks of combating IUU fishing in the locality, affecting the common efforts to remove the EC's IUU yellow card warning for Vietnamese fisheries.
