On the afternoon of September 30, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the 15th Session of the National Steering Committee on combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU Steering Committee), online with 21 coastal provinces and cities.
Concluding the meeting, the Prime Minister frankly pointed out that although there are continued good changes, many tasks have not had fundamental changes.
Affirming the determination to "fight the IUU fishing situation", the Prime Minister set a target of ending IUU fishing by November 15, 2025, because this is related to the honor of the country, the interests of the people...
Those who do not comply must be strictly handled according to the law; any ministries, branches and localities that do not comply well, especially the heads, must be handled according to the regulations of the Party and the laws of the State, in accordance with the spirit of Directive 32-CT/TW of the Secretariat.
Accordingly, the police force and local authorities must review the entire fleet; strictly control the activities of fishing vessels. Ministries, branches and localities coordinate and resolutely control to prevent ships without operating licenses and confiscate licenses if they violate IUU fishing, ensuring completion by October 5.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, ministries, branches and localities coordinate to strictly control the origin of aquatic products, prevent illegal seafood from entering.
The head of the Government expressed dissatisfaction with some heads of Party committees and authorities who have not been determined in combating IUU fishing and criticized localities for not reporting on the situation of recovery.
The Prime Minister reminded local Party committees and authorities to strictly implement Party regulations and State laws; every week and every month, when reviewing and finding that any Party committees and authorities do not implement, do not implement effectively, and do not have changes in combating IUU fishing, the Government Party Committee will compile and report to the Politburo and the Secretariat for handling according to regulations, the Government will have a handling form according to its authority.
The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Justice to urgently amend regulations on administrative sanctions in this field in the direction of increasing fines to increase deterrence; ministries, branches and localities develop projects to convert fishermen's jobs, converting from fishing to aquaculture.
Recalling the recent storm No. 10, there was a situation where only when rescuing a ship in distress and having an incident, we learned that the fishing vessel had lost VMS connection for a long time but was not detected, and reported. The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of National Defense to continue to closely monitor and report the list of fishing vessels passing through border stations, violating regulations in coastal areas.
Viettel Group urgently implements comprehensive digitalization in IUU fishing management, integrating with population data, sharing, and connecting sectors and localities to serve management work, must be completed before October 5, 2025.
VNPT Group continues to coordinate to solve technical problems and continue to upgrade and improve the system, convert and connect data to the VMS system according to the recommendations of ministries, branches and localities.
Inspection agencies organize inspection teams to localize and clarify the responsibilities of organizations and individuals to propose strict handling according to regulations.
