Seafood industry expects EU to pull 'yellow card'

Nuntawan Sakuntanaga, director-general of the International Trade Promotion Department, came to that conclusion after a meeting with the Thai Frozen Foods Association, the Thai Tuna Industry Association, the Thai Fishmeal Producers Association, and Charoen Pokphand Foods.
“With stringently [enforced] concrete measures to combat problems related to illegal fishing, the business sector has fully supported the government’s actions to stop illegal fishing and foresees a brighter outlook for the fishery industry in the future,” she said.
Nuntawan said the fishmeal industry would be hit hardest by the mooring of vessels while they are inspected for compliance with the regulations. However, enterprises could adjust their production, while relying more on by-products from the tuna industry, which in turn does not rely heavily on local catches.
Sanguansak Akaravarinechai, president of the Thai Fishmeal Producers Association, said this industry’s raw materials came from fish-processing plants as well as from local catches. As a result of the temporary docking of boats, the price of fishmeal may increase by about 5-10 per cent, or about Bt1-Bt2 a kilogram. However, it should not affect the whole supply chain of feed meal and aquaculture as fishmeal accounts for only a small proportion for feed-meal production.
Chanintr Chalisarapong, president of the Thai Tuna Industry Association, said more than 80-90 per cent of the industry used imported tuna. The short-term docking should not affect the industry.
He agreed with the government’s stringent measures to tackle illegal fishing as it should create long-term benefits for the country.
Chanintr added that with this serious attempt by the government to combat illegal fishing, the EU should release Thailand from its “yellow card” warning over illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in its report due by October.