EU warning to Thai fishery

The European Union has threatened to impose sanctions on Thailand’s seafood exports to its lucrative 28-country market if the Thai government fails to take urgent action to eradicate illegal fishing and 

related practices.

The country has been given six months to address the issue – or face an import ban likely to cost Bt19-25 billion a year.

According to a statement from the EU, Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government is expected to come up with concrete policies to counter illegal fishing and labour abuses.

As a major exporter of seafood, Thailand’s annual revenue from the industry is about 5 billion euros, or nearly Bt 174 billion.

The European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs, and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella said: “I urge Thailand to join the EU in the fight for sustainable fisheries. Failure to take strong action against illegal fishing will carry consequences.”

The Thai Foreign Ministry said yesterday that “Thailand is deeply disappointed at the EU’s decision”. The decision reflected its failure to recognise the longstanding cooperation between Thailand and the EU’s competent authorities, a ministry statement said. 

The government was now seizing the issue firmly, it said. It would match words with deeds through structural changes, law amendments and the passing of new laws, prosecution, and preventive measures, it said. 

“Thailand will continue to cooperate with the EU to combat IUU (illegal fishing) activities and promote sustainable fishing,” the ministry said.

At this stage, the Thai government and private sector remain optimistic as there are ongoing efforts to counter such issues, which are linked to human trafficking, and the Kingdom is in the process of enforcing laws to improve the protection of labour in the fishery industry.

Commerce Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya said in the next six months the government would work closely with private enterprise to tackle labour issues, with a high powered panel chaired by the prime minister and hoped that the EU would not impose the ban.

Deputy Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said “the government has only a short period of time to work on the problem and some laws have not yet been enacted so the EU decided to issue the warning. 

“However, I hope they will see the fruit of our work soon and do not impose any sanction on Thai fishery products shipped to their market,” Apiradi said.

Poj Aramwattananont, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association, said Thailand needs to communicate with the EU more effectively on the works done to improve labour protection.

“In the past several months, none of the EU firms have banned or reduced imports from Thailand for fishery products. Thai companies have tried to create an understanding and show our buyers that we follow good labour practices,” Poj said. 

Thiraphong Chansiri, president and CEO of Thai Union Group, the biggest Thai frozen sea food producer, said “This is rather disappointing news. The yellow card should also be seen as an opportunity to aggressively move forward the Thai fishing industry towards sustainable fisheries management and conservation of marine resources.” The company would give support to the government to tackle the problem, he said.

 

Shipments down this year

According to an International Trade Promotion Department report, Thai shipments of preserved and prepared fish and fishery products to the EU dropped 21 per cent in the first two months of this year to US$46 million (Bt1.48 billion). Last year, exports were down 39 per cent to $389 million, while shipments of fishery products in 2013 were valued at $646.8 million.

In October 2014, the EU’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries issued a letter to the Thai government to point out many serious problems related to the Thai fishing industry, such as human trafficking, “hyper-fishing” and unregistered fishing boats.

With global stocks of fish dwindling, the EU has started to take increasingly tough action against nations that it feels are not playing by the rules. The EU says illegal fishing around the globe accounts for 15 per cent of catches and has created a 10 billion euro black market that is hurting the environment and fishing communities.

Director of the Bank of Thailand (BOT)’s Macroeconomic Policy Office Don Nakornthab said possible EU sanctions could create a large impact on the industry as the proportion of Thai exports of processed and non-processed seafood to the Euro-zone was big when compared to the total fishery exports.

“Exports of non-processed seafood to Europe were worth around $320 million last year, which is the industry’s third biggest export market, while exports of processed seafood to the Euro-zone accounted for $300 million or around 10 per cent of the country’s total export of processed seafood to the world in the same period of time,” he said. 

“Nevertheless, the Thai government has been working to fix the issue of human trafficking in the fishery industry since last year. So I believe that we will not face sanction,” he said.

Tawee Boonying, president of the Ranong fishermen’s association, said the government had to step up its crackdown on illegal labour in the fishing industry, even though the province had set up a joint panel with the private sector to deal with this problem. As well as the EU’s potential ban on Thai seafood exports, the US could also maintain its Tier 3 rating in its annual Trafficking in Persons report, due in June.