Vietnamese Illegal Fishing Vessels Dropped Dramatically in August, Lashed by Typhoons and Foreign Law Enforcement Forces

In August, a total of 6,450 Vietnamese fishing vessels with 78,778 tracking points were recorded by the AIS in the whole South China Sea, down by a third compared with those in July.

Coastal waters of Chinese Mainland and Hainan Island

According to the AIS statistics, in August, at least 318 Vietnamese fishing vessels intruded into the coastal waters of Chinese mainland and the Hainan Island (as illustrated in the figure below, the scope covers the waters of the Beibu Gulf, excluding China’s maritime domain within the common fishery zones; the territorial seas and internal waters of Guangdong Province and the Hainan Island; the southeastern waters of the Hainan Island, as well as the area within around 30 nm beyond the Guangdong Province’s territorial seas), which dropped more than 50% compared with 702 in July. Still, 75 intruded into China’s territorial seas and internal waters, remaining at a high level.

In terms of the distribution, most of the intruding Vietnamese fishing vessels gathered around the waters near the Beibu Gulf on the Chinese side, while a small number of them still lingered to the southeast of Hainan and Guangdong.

Frequent maritime clashes triggered by the Vietnamese fishing vessels

This August saw stepped-up efforts from the South China Sea littoral countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, to fight against Vietnamese IUU (Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported) fishing vessels. “Vietnamese Fishing Vessels Caught in … Waters” frequently hit the headlines in the past month. A total of 24 Vietnamese vessels with 230 crewmen were detained according to the open source reports,[1] during which some Vietnamese even acted with violent resistance that led to casualties, posing serious challenge to the peace-keeping and resource-preserving of the South China Sea.

On Aug 16, a Vietnamese fishing vessel in Malaysian waters rammed and even threw a Molotov cocktail at the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) boat. The MMEA crew shot for self-defense, causing one Vietnamese dead.

A Molotov cocktail on Vietnamese boat involved in a confrontation with the Malaysian coast guard, Aug 17. Source: MMEA

In Thai waters, Vietnamese fishing vessels also showed up repeatedly, where two seizures were reported in less than a week. On August 17, 4 Vietnamese vessels were seized and the 36 crewmen arrested for illegally fishing in the Thai exclusive economic zone, about 92 nautical miles off Cape Tachi in Pattani's Yaring district. On Aug 21, one Vietnamese fishing vessel was seized and 4 crewmen arrested for illegal fishing in the Gulf of Thailand, about 78 nautical miles from the mouth of the Narathiwat River.

Vietnamese fishing vessels detained by Thailand, Aug 17. Source: Abdullah Benjakat, Bangkok Post

Notably, no AIS signals were found from the Vietnamese fishing vessels above, which means that there are still a lot left unrecorded.

Vietnam has achieved initial success in tackling the IUU fishing?

There has been a dramatic drop in Vietnamese fishing vessels in terms of the number and scope. Does it mean that Vietnam has achieved initial success in tackling the IUU fishing?

We think it is yet premature to make such judgment at this stage. The number of Vietnamese fishing boats did plummet. However, it was owing to, on the one hand, the frequent typhoons in the South China Sea and its surrounding areas in August, which objectively raised the "threshold" for Vietnamese to conduct operations; on the other, the increasing law enforcement efforts from other littoral countries of the South China Sea, which forced the Vietnamese IUU fishing vessels to be restrained.

However, China was still the biggest victim of Vietnamese illegal activities. When comparing the activities of those intruding into China’s waters with those in others, it wouldn’t be difficult to find that the main factors that led to the drop in Vietnamese vessels were external influences——extreme weather and intensified law enforcement. In the Beibu Gulf, where typhoons seldom visit and it is challenging to law enforcement, the Vietnamese fishing vessels still remained rather active this August, indicating that Vietnam may have not set up its mind to tackle IUU fishing yet.