KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian waters saw 265 Vietnamese fishing boats illegally entering between 2020 and last year, resulting in the arrest of 2,683 crew members for Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing (IUU).
In a parliamentary written reply, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said that based on the data from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), 35 Vietnamese fishing boats with 307 crews were arrested from January to April this year, matching the annual figures reported last year.
"Vietnam often raises the IUU issue in meetings with Malaysia's top leadership, including during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in December last year.
"Then Vietnam president Vo Van Thuong had formally expressed to the prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) to cooperate with Malaysia to enhance their maritime governance and enforcement systems.
"Malaysia has no problems assisting Vietnam in meeting the improvement requirements set by the European Commission," he said in response to Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli (PN-Dungun).
Wan Hassan inquired about the results of the cooperation with Vietnam to improve their country's governance and enforcement related to the fishing activities of Vietnamese fishermen, and steps to utilise regional platforms such as the Asean Sectoral Working Group on Fisheries (ASWGFi) to raise and resolve the issue of Vietnamese fishermen's trespasses.
Mohamad added that Malaysia has been consistent in urging Vietnam to take appropriate measures to stop the encroachments of its fishermen into Malaysian waters.
Malaysia, he said, also conducts bilateral cooperation under the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding on Agricultural Cooperation, which allows both parties to discuss issues related to fisheries and IUU fishing.
"The ASWGFi established an IUU special task force in 2019 to enhance communication and information sharing among Asean member states to address IUU fishing activities in the region.
"Nevertheless, to ensure stability in the region, Malaysia will continue to provide cooperation to Vietnam through existing bilateral and regional platforms, to assist Vietnam in taking more proactive steps to improve maritime governance and management, and to resolve issues of encroachment and IUU fishing activities."
Mohamad added sovereignty and integrity of Malaysia's maritime territory have always been the government's priority.
"The government continues to intensify efforts to prevent and eradicate the intrusion of foreign fishing vessels into Malaysian waters.
"In this regard, the Foreign Ministry collaborates closely with the Defence Ministry, Home Ministry, the National Security Council, as well as maritime enforcement agencies."