Kien Giang cracking down on illegal fishing

• Provinces ramp up installation of systems to fight illegal fishing
• No more illegal fishing since beginning of 2018
• Quang Ngai prevents illegal fishing in foreign waters
• Illegal fishing continues unbated in Quang Ninh

Fishing vessels in Kien Giang province (Photo: VNA)

The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang is identifying the measures needed to have the “yellow card” warning from the European Commission (EC) for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing removed, according to local authorities.

Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Van Tam said that as of December this year, all the fishing vessels measuring 15 metres or longer will have been equipped with vessel monitoring systems.

The province will also strengthen the management of fishing boats and fishermen, preventing them from violating foreign waters to conduct illegal fishing.

It will also increase patrols at fishing ports to quickly detect and handle infringements.

Joint patrols will be conducted with the seven Mekong Delta provinces of Binh Thuan, Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, and Ca Mau.

Local agencies have been directed to coordinate with naval and coast guard forces to intensify patrols.

Since the beginning of this year Kien Giang has handled 12 violations and imposed fines totaling nearly 12 billion VND (519,520 USD).

More than 3,410 fishing vessels had tracking devices as of July.