Nov. 13 (UPI) -- On a rusted wharf in the northern port city of Haiphong, where U.S. B-52s once rained bombs for 12 straight days, 70-year-old fisherman Bui Quang Mong mends a worn fishing net.
Half a century at sea has left his hands rough and steady, each scar a story of storms weathered, encounters with other boats and the relentless struggle to make a living from the sea.
For fishermen, the South China Sea has always been a treacherous frontier -- typhoons, Chinese naval chases, detentions, confiscated catches, sinking boats. He's had all of it.
But today, the sharpest wave hitting Vietnamese fishing communities is bureaucratic: Europe's yellow card -- imposed by the European Commission to penalize illegal, unreported and unregulated, or IUU, fishing -- now runs through conversations like a silent current.
Vietnam is racing the clock to shake off the EU's yellow card before the European Commission's inspection at the end of 2025. Miss the deadline, and the country could face a full red card -- slamming the door on seafood exports worth more than $500 million a year.
