IUU efforts pass muster, Prawit says

The country was confident that the results of all its efforts would meet with the EU’s approval, he said.
Thailand would not fall further down the rankings because the government had |addressed every issue according to the IUU standards.
Even though Thailand will still be given a yellow card, it is acceptable because the measures to suppress IUU fishing violations need a long time to produce results, he added.
Navy chief Admiral Kraison Chansuwanit, who heads the Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing, said during the final CCCIF meeting of fiscal 2015 that the work of the CCCIF was nearly finished.
What was left to do next was to deal with the issues that EU inspectors had brought up, in order to prepare for the EU inspection from October 12-23. “The meeting discussed Thailand’s IUU fishing solutions, whether our procedures are consistent with the EU |standards, as the Thai representative |team had discussed with EU officials last |week, and the possible inspection results,” he said.
The meeting reportedly did not only discuss the preparation for the upcoming EU inspection, but also followed up on the previous IUU fishing measures.

Reshuffle of personnel
The meeting agreed to increase the penalty for foreign boats illegally fishing in Thai waters, reviewed the progress report for a new fishing law and vetted the plan to recruit demobilised soldiers to work on fishing vessels at a minimum salary of Bt15,000.
This meeting was the last for him to chair because on October 1, Admiral Na Areenij will be taking over as commander.
The command centre also saw a minor reshuffle of personnel, but progress on the work agenda would still be smooth, he said.