Fishermen to petition govt over ‘harsh’ new law
Play
REPRESENTATIVES of fishermen nationwide will Tuesday petition the government to review the Fisheries Royal Ordinance bill introduced last month, which they say is “too strict”.
Trang fishermen club director Sawaeng Khun-arj said the Prayut government passed the law to please the European Union even though it put local fishermen at a disadvantage.
Sawaeng said the government cancelled the Fisheries Act 2015 that was the product of a 16-year nationwide struggle on behalf of fishermen, although it had been in force for only a fortnight, and failed to give fishermen a chance to take part in the drafting of the royal ordinance law.
He said the new law had many new rules and regulations that hampered fishermen who used small boats.
If the government continued to ignore his group’s call for a review of the one-month-old ordinance, Sawaeng said, fishermen would petition the United Nations.
