Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang has asked relevant ministries, agencies and localities to urgently and effectively carry out set tasks against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the Government News has reported.

Chairing a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on IUU fishing prevention and control on August 7, the Deputy PM required the MARD to set up inspection teams to examine the implementation of tasks at coastal localities.

He requested measures to detect and strictly handle violating vessels before the European Commission's inspection team comes to Vietnam to examine its efforts against IUU fishing.

The MARD was instructed to coordinate with other ministries, sectors, and units in addressing technical issues and provide technical guidance relating to the install of vessel monitoring systems to the localities.

The ministry reported that up to 98.43% of fishing vessels have been equipped with the vessel monitoring systems devices.