Fishing operators cry foul

Sek Wannamethee, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said the European Union was expected to send a delegation to Thailand next month to follow up on the authorities’ progress in tackling IUU issues after a “yellow card” warning was issued against Thailand earlier this year.

Vice Admiral Jumpol Lumpikanon, spokesman for the Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing, said strict enforcement of the new law should encourage the EU to upgrade Thailand’s status in terms of IUU issues.

Somsak Paneetatyasai, president of the Thai Shrimp Association, said government agencies and private enterprises were also seriously tackling the problem of forced labour and child labour in the fisheries industry, especially with regards to a recent Associated Press report on small shrimp-peeling sheds in Samut Sakorn using forced labour.

He said these small operators would be removed from the supply chain immediately if they were found to have used forced labour and child labour, adding that larger enterprises which were members of his association had agreed to take action against these illegal practices.

The new fisheries law includes penalties that will lead to a factory being shut down if it is found to have used illegal workers. 

Article 11 of the law states that factories are subject to business suspensions of between 10 and 30 days if they are found to employ less than five illegal workers. If the number of illegal workers exceeds five, the factories concerned will be shut down for an extended period and repeated wrongdoing will lead to the nullification of factory licences.

While Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has expressed support for officials enforcing the law strictly, small local fishermen and large fisheries businesses have complained that the law affects their rights and the punishments are too severe for business operators.

Agriculture and Cooperatives Min-ister General Chatchai Sarikalya said Thailand needed the new law because the previous Fisheries Act 2015 could not solve the IUU problems efficiently while monitoring and controlling measures were absent for fishing activities in Thai and international waters.

However, Monkol Sukcharenkana, vice president of Thailand Fisheries Association, said some articles of the new law such as Article 11 were too severe, as processing plants could be closed if illegal foreign workers were found on their premises. 

 

Resources at risk

Monkol said Article 169 of the law allowed authorities to seize fishing equipment and fishing vessels when violations of the law occur.

“This can hurt our business,” he said, adding that Article 44, which bars the trading of fishing vessels and fishing licences, also violated the rights of fisheries business owners.

Banjong Nasae of the Thai Sea Watch Association said the decree was not aimed at preserving marine resources, but it would have negative impacts on the fishing industry.

“This law bans local fishermen, which consist of 80 per cent of all fishing vessels, from fishing beyond the territorial waters, about three nautical miles up to 12 nautical miles from the shore,” Banjong said, in reference to Article 34.

“Therefore, this allows the majority of local fishermen to fish within only less than five per cent of the coastal areas of the country, while opening up opportunities for more than 90 per cent of the areas to the big operators.”

He said many traditional fishing activities needed to go beyond the territorial sea but these activities, such as trawling for crabs, could now not be done under the threat of heavy penalties.

 

Authorities admit glitches

“The law also requires all local fishermen to have a fishing licence from the authorities and it does not allow the unregistered fishing vessels to operate,” he said. “This rule seems to be very good but in practice it is very problematic to the local fishermen who mostly own small rafts and boats which are not registered.”

Banjong said the law was drafted only to help the big seafood industry avoid trade sanctions, with the government imposing very strict measures just to pass the EU standard for solving IUU problems.

He said there was no public participation in the drafting of the law, so many local fishermen did not know or understand the new fishing rules. This would cause them more problems rather than preserve the marine supply sustainably.

Last Friday, there was a conflict in Pattani when officials tried to arrest local fishermen for violating the fishing rules. The officials were attacked and had to abort their mission.

Government Spokesman Maj-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the prime minister was informed of the incident, and he encouraged officials to continue enforcing the law strictly while calling on local authorities to help affected fishermen by providing them with compensation and finding alternative jobs for them.

Vice Admiral Jumpol of Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing said the strict measures would help upgrade the country’s fishing standards. 

However, he admitted doing so would take some time since the country had not imposed controls on the use of fishing equipment for a long time.

He said Thailand had complied with 13 EU suggestions on fishing practices and was ready for the next EU inspection in January.

Somsak of the Thai Shrimp Association said all operators in the seafood supply chain had to comply with the new law and warned factories that they risked closure if the authorities found illegal workers on their premises.

Under the new law, the use of illegal labour is subject to fines of between Bt400,000 and Bt800,000 per case, while factory operators are also subject to imprisonment of up to two years.

For shrimp peeling sheds, Somsak said, there were now about 50 operators registered with authorities to ensure they followed the guidelines on good practices, while the rest had been encouraged to register.