More Than Just Barriers

More Than Just Barriers

By Tan Duc

Processing catfish for ecport at Agifish in An Giang Province. Apart from the IUU certificate, which is compulsory for aqua-products exported and those goverming the origin of seafood exports, which are still optional but likely to become mandatory in the near future.

Pursuant to the legislation set by the European Council, since January 2010, Vietnam’s fishery exports to the European Union (EU) must obtain the IUU certificate.

Vietnamese fishery processing enterprises consider this certificate a new technical barrier aimed at restricting their exports to Europe. This view is not flawed. However, from another perspective, the certificate may be considered an effective tool to help Vietnam curb the fall in its supplies of aqua-products. At the same time, thanks to this requirement, the development of the seafood processing industry is likely to be less scattered and spontaneous.

Nguyen Thi Hong Minh, former deputy minister of fisheries, says that the IUU certificate mainly seeks to ensure the sustainable development of fisheries resources. If deleterious tools like explosives and dense nets are used, or the fish are caught during their breeding seasons, the aqua-products will not be eligible for export to EU members. “At present, Vietnam is virtually incapable of controlling the fishing industry, so its supplies of fisheries are shrinking drastically,” Minh says.

Actually, IUU will not completely tackle the problems plaguing Vietnam’s aquaculture because most of the industry’s products, especially those caught with damaging methods, are consumed domestically. Moreover, exporters can also switch to other markets such as Japan, Korea and the U.S. In the near term, the most noteworthy benefit of this requirement is to enhance cooperation within Vietnam’s aquaculture industry.
Although the seafood processing industry has reaped steadily increasing export turnover over the years, it is still mired in risks, mainly due to the lack of cooperation among enterprises in the same industry. Consequently, many businesses operate at their full capacity and compete based on prices. Consider, for instance, enterprises which process tra and basa fish.

At present, apart from the IUU certificate, which is compulsory for aqua-products exported to EU members, there are other standards such as GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) or those governing the origin of seafood exports, which are still optional but likely to become mandatory in the near future. In other words, seafood processing enterprises, those rearing aquatic products, providers of breeding fish and animal feed should join forces soon. This will be an opportunity for Vietnam to tackle those shortcomings that impede the processing and export of its agricultural and aquatic products and, in so doing, pave the way for sustainable development.

In general, the IUU requirement will not exert a significant impact on the fishery industry as items made of the aqua-products caught account for less than 20% of the total export revenue reaped by Vietnam’s aquaculture. Furthermore, the EU market only captures a share of slightly more than 25% of this export turnover.

However, some factories, especially those in central Vietnam, have relied mainly on catching aqua-products such as tunas, squids and octopuses and may be adversely affected as they cannot respond promptly to the new requirement. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development did not issue the mechanism used to certify the suitability of aqua-products exported to the EU until December 4, 2009. As localities have less than half a month to prepare, implementing this mechanism will certainly be an uphill task. In addition, each locality has thousands of fishing boats. It will be hard to issue certificates in time, especially since a certificate is applicable to only one fishing trip.

The tardy response from management agencies is partly to blame for the current situation. If the necessary preparations had started immediately after the issuance of IUU regulations in September 2008, Vietnam would respond better now.

Unless administrative inefficiency is obliterated soon, the same problems may arise when GAP and regulations on the origin of aqua-products and agro-products, which are preferable but optional now, are made compulsory. Identifying the origin of aqua-products has been compulsory in Europe since 2005 and is likely to be a must for foreign products exported to this region in the near future. The procedure will be extremely onerous and complicated as it involves producers of animal feed, veterinary medicines and breeding animals, operators of fisheries, transport companies, and so on.