Binh Dinh (VNA) – The Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development hosted a conference in the central province of Binh Dinhon February 28 to discuss measures to strengthen the leadership and instructionover combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU).

Speaking at the event, Minister of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentNguyen Xuan Cuong asked localities across the country to absolutely end illegalfishing in foreign waters by May 2020.

As planned, the European Commission (EC) will conduct thethird round of inspection over Vietnam’s exploitation of seafood.

In order to have the EC’s IUU warning lifted, Vietnam hasstrived to follow its nine recommendations by adopting and applying the Law onFisheries 2017, he said.

Cuong requested that all vessels with a length of over 15mmust be equipped with global positioning systems (GPS) between now and April 1,2020.

State management agencies must reach consensus on equipment standardsand technology, he added.

At present, 61 fishing ports in 28 coastal cities andprovinces are qualified for tracing the origin of aquatic products.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentPhung Duc Tien, there are 125 fishing ports and 146 anchorages across thecountry, but only 46 percent of the ports and nearly half of the anchorages havemet set standards.

Cuong asked units concerned to build a plan to improvefishing ports and anchorages between now and May 2020, thereby suggesting thegovernment adding it into the medium-term capital use plan.

The move is meant to restructure the fishery towards reducingfishing output and increasing aquaculture, he said.

On the occasion, the minister also urged ministries,agencies and localities to instruct farmers to follow the EC’s recommendationson IUU combat./.