Vietnam’s fishermen are now sailing the seas equipped with better tracking devices and improved ship logging methods in a bid to steer clear of penalties imposed by the European Union for illegal fishing, and to join efforts aimed at preventing depletion of the world’s marine life.
The tracking measures and new penalties have been part of a crackdown since 2017 when the EU slapped a warning on Vietnam — the world’s third-biggest fish exporter, whose overfishing has gotten its boats sunk by neighboring Indonesia. The warning, officially referred to as a “yellow card,” is meant to advise Vietnam to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
It has hung like an albatross around the country’s fishing sector, which faces a red card, or outright ban on fish exports to the EU, if the problems remain unresolved.
While the EU previously said Vietnam’s local and central governments lacked effective oversight powers, two provinces recently fined fishermen $43,000 each for switching off tracking gear and illegally fishing in Malaysia and Indonesia, state broadcaster VTV reported on Dec. 9.
Vietnam hoped to shed the yellow card this year, ending the extra customs scrutiny that pushed fish sales to the EU down by 36% — about $320 million — from 2018 to 2020. But with COVID-19 preventing EU inspectors from visiting the Southeast Asian country, waiting to lose the less-than-favorable status will drag on into 2022.
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https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Vietnam-reins-in-fisheries-as-EU-yellow-card-threatens-sector