HCM City (VNA) –Vietnam’s seafood export tothe EU market is facing various difficulties, said involving companies at aconference reviewing one-year implementation of a campaign that urges local fisheryfirms to commit to combating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The conference, held by the Vietnam Association of SeafoodExporters and Producers (VASEP), which initiated the campaign, took place in HoChi Minh City on September 25. The campaign has to date attracted theparticipation of 62 firms.

On October 23, 2017, the EC issued a "yellow card"warning to Vietnam, after the country failed to demonstrate sufficient progressin the fight against IUU fishing.

In the past eight months, Vietnam shipped seafood products worth252 million USD to the EU, an annual decrease of 25 percent. The reduction ledto a fall of its proportion in the country total seafood exports to 12 percentfrom the previous 16 – 17 percent.

A VASEP representative said toward the end of 2018, seafoodexports to the EU will continue to go down, with an estimated turnover for theentire year staying at 3.2 billion USD compared to the set goal of 3.4 billionUSD.

From a business angle, Cao Thi Kim Lan, director of the BinhDinh Fishery JSC, the yellow card is impacting the company’s trade with the EU.

According to Lan, from the beginning of 2018 to date, her company’sexport value to the market dropped 20 – 30 percent against the same period lastyear. All of the shipments were checked while importers became more demanding,hence higher costs and complications.

Lan said her company is seeking other markets forsubstitution but it is not an easy task. If the IUU warning is not removed, theVietnamese fishery sector and firms will lose its opportunity to expand in theEU, and affect other markets, she added.

The VASEP campaign was among efforts made to speed up theremoval. In the past year, its steering board had run various activities tomake legal recommendations and suggest suitable actions to the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development and other related agencies. The board alsoheld fact-finding tours to examine fishery management at different localities.

According to VASEP, from now to December 2019, its programmeto fight IUU fishing will continues increasing communication campaigns.

A working delegation of the European Commission (EC)’sDirectorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries began a fact-findingtrip to Vietnam late May to inspect the implementation of recommendationsrelated to the fight against IUU fishing.

The European Parliament will come to Vietnam to examine thecountry’s efforts in October, and the inspection team will return in January,2019 to evaluate one more time before considering the removal of the “yellowcard” on Vietnamese seafood.-VNA