Strengthening intersectoral efforts to combat violations related to wildlife and fisheries protection

The meeting was co-chaired by Member of the Politburo and Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang, Member of the Party Central Committee and Permanent Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Trinh Viet Hung and Member of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Minister of Public Security Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Long.

Over the past time , functional forces from the two ministries have coordinated closely in implementing Plan No. 628,yielding positive results.

Accordingly, hundreds of thousands of people were informed and briefed on the laws on protection of wildlife and fishery resources through awareness-raising campaigns, and thousands of organizations and individuals signed commitments not to hunt or trade wildlife and not to use prohibited fishing gear.

Further, police forces, forest rangers, fisheries surveillance forces and local authorities jointly conducted numerous patrols and inspections in key areas in order to prevent, detect and handle violations.

At the same time, local authorities and functional forces raised the public awareness of protecting wildlife and fishery resources through diverse communication methods, contributing to improving community understanding of the need to conserve biodiversity and wildlife; as a result, many individuals voluntarily handed over wildlife to the authorities for releases into natural habitats.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Long emphasized that the achieved results have contributed to gradually restoring the ecosystems and biodiversity, noting that some natural birds have begun to reappear in several localities, while the public awareness of environmental protection and biodiversity has continued to improve.

He requested police units and agencies to further strengthen coordination with forest rangers and fisheries surveillance forces to detect and seriously handle illegal acts of trapping, hunting, trading wildlife and engaging in destructive fishing practices, in accordance with the law.

In his concluding remarks, Minister Tran Duc Thang called for closer coordination among police forces, forest rangers, fisheries surveillance units, media agencies and relevant stakeholders so as to definitely prevent violations related to wildlife, migratory birds and fisheries resources.

He also stressed the importance of further promoting communication campaigns to raise the public awareness of the protection of wildlife and fishery resources, and gradually change people’s behavior toward wildlife, thereby contributing to biodiversity protection and sustainable development.