Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan has directed the Department of Fisheries to step up the suppression of illegal fishing while providing compensation for unregistered fishing vessels that have not violated the law.
Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan presided over a meeting of the National Fisheries Committee held via video conference, where the issues of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and environmental impacts from fisheries were on the agenda.
The DPM urged all subcommittees to expedite and follow up on the operations, and to collaborate their efforts in solving IUU fishing, as well as providing aid to affected stakeholders.
The DPM ordered the Department of Fisheries to gather information on issues faced by fishermen at each location and to regularly report their findings to the national committee.
He also urged the department to provide compensation to operators of the 75 unregistered fishing vessels that have never violated the law. A total budget of 490 million baht has been set aside for this purpose.
Gen Prawit then asked the department to streamline the processes of prosecution overseen by the Fisheries Monitoring Center and to work more closely with the Royal Thai Police.
The committee in this meeting acknowledged the progress made on the mitigation of impacts from fisheries against marine animals, as well as the efforts made to address the withdrawal of vessels from the monitoring system. (NNT)
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