The post is tasked with managing Ly Son island district which houses 6,658 households and 542 trawlers.
Diverse dissemination forms
Since last October, the post has organized eight dissemination sessions for some 370 fishing vessels’ owners, and captains; checked observance of law and anti-IUU fishing of those getting involved in sea product exploitation and protection at ports, wharfs, and checkpoints.
In leaflets distributed to each fisherman, the unit has specified penalty levels for illegally fishing in foreign waters, losing connection to vessel monitoring system (VMS). The unit has verified illegal cases in an attempt to change awareness of fishermen.
    |
 |
|
Fishermen are committed to observing State laws during their operation at sea. |
Forty-night-year-old Bui Van Trung, owner of trawler QNg96787TS, said that in the past it was difficult to remember State law and regulations on anti-IUU fishing. Now, they are aware of the impacts of not abiding by provisions of law thanks to specific examples of violations provided by troops from Ly Son Border Post.
Apart from leaflets, the unit has added more dissemination forms, such as oration, taking advantage of local radio system, making clips, reports, writing articles or news on anti-IUU fishing to post on social network, local newspapers, and broadcasting on the provincial Radio-Television channels to make the dissemination of contents easy to understand and remember.
Moreover, penalties for violations have been strictly implemented as a kind of deterrence. Since October 2023, the unit has inspected and verified 29 cases of fishing vessels losing connection to VMS for more than 10 days and fishing vessels operating beyond allowed boundaries; fined three trawlers for disabling VMS while operating at sea.
Positive changes in locals’ acts
Lieutenant Colonel Ngo Doan Tu, Commanding Officer of Ly Son Border Post, said thanks to many effective dissemination and punishment measures, good inspection and control, and determination to not allow trawlers and fishermen in shortage of papers and equipment regulated by law to go fishing, local people’s awareness of law observance has been raised. No more violation of encroaching foreign waters has been recorded in the locality. In addition, observing provisions of law when fishing offshore has been standardized.
Bui Van Trung said that before departure, he always reminds other crew-members to prepare papers and go fishing in the waters of Vietnam. All are aware that once encroaching foreign waters, they would be arrested and imprisoned while their property would be seized, and the reputation of Vietnamese people could be damaged.
In the managed areas of the post, 133 out of 136 trawlers with the length of 15m and above have installed VMS. The remainders are idle now.
It can be said that to have the European Commission’s “yellow card” on Vietnamese sea products removed, it needs the high determination of the entire Party and people for the common interests of the Vietnamese fisheries sector. To make fishermen observe provisions of law, functional sectors and local authorities must accompany them, share with and support them to overcome difficulties for effective fishing.
Source: baobienphong
Translated by Mai Huong