Trawlers may lose licences in IUU crackdown
Play
The owners of more than 8,000 trawlers in 22 coastal provinces may lose their commercial fishing licences as the authorities consider cracking down on those whose licences don't correspond to the vessel size or fishing activity, and those who have failed
As the country aims to comply with the regulations on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the Marine Department, the Fisheries Department and the Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing yesterday said a recent survey found a total of 8,024 problematic licences of first, second and third-class fishing vessels, ranging from 0.2 gross tons to 602 tonnes.
The list of offending vessels will be submitted to the National Council for Peace and Order to issue licence-revocation orders, after which the continued use of those trawlers for fishery purposes would be subject to jail terms and fines.
Kamolsak Letpaiboon, head of the Fishing Association of Thailand, said the ship owners should be allowed to appeal against the revocation of licences, as many boats may have missed the survey because they were fishing outside Thailand’s waters. He said the survey process was not clear and wondered where the number came from.
