HCM City (VNA) – The fishery sector has been working to implement recommendations by the European Commission(EC) for the past two years to remove its illegal, unreported, and unregulatedfishing (IUU) yellow card warning.

The south central coastal province of Khanh Hoa,for example, has gained profits thanks to measures taken to tackle IUU such asnon-infringement of foreign waters and clear traceability of raw materials thathelps boost prices.

Head of the provincial fisheries sub-departmentNguyen Trong Chanh said the EC’s recommendations are welcomed. The province hasstrengthened measures to punish fishing vessels that violate foreign waters.

The province now has 430 ships equipped withGPS, and the remaining vessels will all be installed with the equipment in the firstquarter of this year.

Meanwhile, owners of fishing vessels in theMekong Delta province of Soc Trang have been informed of the importance ofsurveillance equipment.

As of February, the province had installed GPSequipment on 189 vessels. All the remaining 106 will be equipped with trackingand monitoring devices by April.

In October 2017, Vietnam received a “yellowcard” warning for illegal seafood exploitation by the EC, which has seriouslyhit seafood exports to the European market.

To cope with the situation, many businesses havetaken the initiative to check traceability. 

Together with these efforts, authorised unitshave joined hands to combat illegal fishing.

Vietnam has carefully studied the legalframework to combat IUU with advice from the EC to have the yellow cardrescinded./.