One in 4 fishing boats unregistered
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The registration deadline for fishing vessels passed at midnight yesterday, with one in four boats still unregistered and will barred from going out to sea.
The Fisheries Department said that 12,270 of 57,141 fishing boats had yet to register as of press time. Also, 880 fishing vessels have been found to not have the equipment required, and hence are barred from taking to the seas.
Sompote Kribkratok, inspector-general of the Fisheries Department, said if any unregistered boats are found fishing, the operators will face a fine of up to Bt300,000 and/or three years in jail.
“Vessels will not be allowed to register after the deadline, and the date for the next round of registration will only be set after the Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing [CCCIF] completes its discussion on marine sustainable yield, which is the index for Thai seafood resource,” he said.
As for compensating those suffering from the government’s policies on fishing, he said that the CCCIF was looking into the issue.
“The public hearing on the fisheries business was completed last Sunday, and comments gathered at the forum have been passed on to the CCCIF at a meeting on Wednesday. From now on, the CCCIF board will seek ways of helping fishermen based on how well they follow the regulations,” he said.
Yesterday, Fisheries Department director-general Jumpol Sanguansin said that the department was planning to hold a public forum to seek solutions for illegal fishing as well, and opinions gathered will also be handed in for the CCCIF’s consideration.
This is part of an effort to come to a compromise with fishermen who use any of the four banned fishing equipment that severely destroy marine life.
These actions are being taken to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices after the European Union gave Thailand a “yellow card” in April and demanded that the Kingdom make an effort to solve the chronic problems in the fisheries sector by October.
