FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Thailand seen as unlikely to meet EU's fishing standards

Thailand seen as unlikely to meet EU's fishing standards

THE AUTHORITIES, the business sector and NGOs all predict that Thailand's rank on the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) list will not improve, despite the strict measures being implemented by the government.

After four months of effort to tackle the IUU fishing situation since Thailand received the yellow card from the European Union in April, no one is confident that Thailand’s situation will be any better when the next IUU ranking is released in October.
Many controversies have also emerged from the implementation of the policy to stop illegal fishing and regulate the long-ignored problems within the fishing industry. Many trawler owners complained that they cannot go fishing because their boats are now illegal, but local fishermen still think the government’s policy is not strict enough to pass the IUU standard.
“We do our best on everything we can to tackle the IUU fishing, but the result of our efforts is up to the EU inspectors,” said Joompol Sanguansin, director general of the Fisheries Department.
He stated that within a short period of time, the Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCCIF) implemented many measures to solve the IUU fishing problems, such as fine-tuning the fisheries law, registering fishing vessels, port in–port out inspections, installing vessel tracking devices and banning four destructive types of fishing equipment.
The four banned types of fishing equipment are push nets, fishing net traps, anchovy dip nets on light boats and set bag nets.
“Our rank may not increase but I am sure that we will not be given the red card,” he said.
Monkol Sukcharenkana, vice president of the Thailand Fishery Association, said even with the new strict measures, the country’s rank will not be improved. He pointed out that the EU does not trust the current government, which came to power in an undemocratic way.
“This is all about politics. Despite us doing our best, they [EU] will not approve our effort,” Monkol said.
“Previously, the fishermen cooperated with the government on every aspect to tackle the IUU fishing, but I think the measures were implemented in very short period of time and it hurt many operators together with subsequent industries,” he said.
Due to the limited time the fishing operators had to comply with new regulations, he said, 90 per cent of fishing vessels could not put to sea early in July, which affected downstream industries and cast a shadow on the country’s economy.
He also pointed out that the trawlers and other fishermen who used banned equipment were wrongly blamed for the degrading marine ecology and asked the government for proper compensation.
“We are ready to comply with the government’s policy but the fishermen need to sustain their families as well, so we ask the government for the full compensation in order to let them find a new job,” he said.
In contrast to the fishing operators’ perspective, Banjong Nasae, president of the Thai Sea Watch Association, said the government’s measures to solve the IUU fishing problem are still not good enough.
“I can see that the government is earnest in tackling the problem but I am worried that many of the measures were not properly implemented and otter trawlers with very destructive fishing equipment were still allowed to operate,” Banjong noted.
He pointed out that the aim of the IUU fishing regulations was to ensure that the fish are caught in a sustainable and traceable way, but the CCCIF still compromises with the otter trawlers, which he stated operated in a way that was harmful to the natural resources.
“I’m glad that other destructive types fishing equipment have been banned but the otter trawler should be banned too. I can assure you that even widening the net to just seven centimetres is destructive because it pulls and destroys everything on the sea bed,” he explained.
“Despite the overall effort, I am not sure that Thailand’s rank will climb this October,” he added.
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