Increase Transparency of 'Distant-Water Fishing Vessel Information' to Eradicate Illegal Fishing

[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] From now on, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) number must be entered on applications for distant-water fishing permits. This is intended to manage distant-water fishing vessel information more transparently.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on the 6th that it has amended the "Distant-Water Industry Development Act Enforcement Rules" to include this provision in order to eradicate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and to resolve difficulties faced by distant-water fishing companies.

The government completed the registration of all Korean distant-water fishing vessels with the IMO last year to actively participate in the international community's trend emphasizing transparency of vessel information to eradicate IUU fishing. Additionally, through this amendment of the "Distant-Water Industry Development Act Enforcement Rules," the IMO number must be entered on distant-water fishing permit applications, enabling more transparent management of distant-water fishing vessel information.

Previously, when foreign vessels carrying seafood were confirmed through port state control inspections to be involved in IUU fishing, only departure bans, unloading bans, and transshipment bans could be imposed. However, going forward, the legal basis has been established to additionally restrict port state services such as fuel supply.

Furthermore, amendments were made to resolve difficulties faced by distant-water fishing companies. Until now, even when distant-water fishing vessels were docked for extended periods, fishing vessel tracking devices had to be kept operational at all times for real-time location tracking, requiring continuous power supply to the vessels. Especially recently, due to difficulties in fishing caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), distant-water fishing vessels docked at ports faced hardships because they had to keep generators running continuously due to this regulation. However, with this legal amendment, when vessels are docked for more than one week, they may not have to operate the fishing vessel tracking devices after reporting upon arrival.

In addition, the deadline for reporting after unloading catch from distant-water fishing vessels has been changed from within 24 hours to within 72 hours.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.