According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quang Ninh province, as of May 23, the district has received 686 dossiers of proposal to deliver the marine area for aquaculture. In particular, the sea delivery has been completed to 613 individuals, and 73 records are in the process of completing the procedures.
At the provincial level, only 4 dossiers have been received so far, of which only 1 dossier has been assigned to the sea area, the remaining 3 dossiers are being assessed.
Regarding marine farming licensing, the authorities have received 16 dossiers and requested appraisal opinions; of these, 11 dossiers have been licensed, 2 dossiers are reporting to the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee and 3 dossiers are waiting for opinions from relevant departments.
However, the process of implementing the allocation and licensing of coastal areas is still facing many difficulties. Some localities have not yet had organizations, enterprises or cooperatives submit applications for the award of the license plate.
There are cases where the project's explanation has been sketchy, has not received editing opinions under the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the guidance of the Department of Agriculture and the Environment and the provisions of the Fisheries Law in 2017.
Many marine aquaculture planning areas overlap with national maritime and inland waterway planning. This causes the appraisal of projects to have to seek opinions from the Vietnam Maritime Administration and the Vietnam Inland Waterways Administration, prolonging the processing time.
Although the Department of Agriculture and Environment has worked with the above two units and issued Document No. 1640/SNN&MT dated April 14, 2025, the procedures have not yet been completely resolved.
At the meeting on May 24 of the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province on the progress of licensing and allocating marine areas for aquaculture, Mr. Nghiem Xuan Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, assessed: The results of handling records for granting marine trees to cooperatives and enterprises are still very limited, the progress of removing difficulties is still slow, not meeting requirements.
The capacity to prepare documents for cooperatives, enterprises and consulting units is still weak; the content of the project explanation is sketchy, lacking basis, and not qualified to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision on the assignment of the sea area.
Faced with the above situation, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested localities and relevant departments and branches to urgently rectify the situation of slow completion of procedures to avoid illegal aquaculture activities.
The prepared documents must be completed and submitted before June 30, 2025. The specialized agencies are responsible for providing maximum support to businesses and cooperatives to promptly complete the dossier to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for approval.
The Department of Agriculture and Environment is assigned to advise the Provincial People's Committee to organize a peak period of developing, reviewing, completing and submitting for approval qualified documents. After October 30, 2025, organizations and individuals who have not completed their application for the assignment of coastal areas will not be allowed to continue aquaculture activities.
The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also requested the Department of Agriculture and Environment to update and complete the handbook guiding the implementation of procedures for handing over aquaculture license plates.
