BANGKOK, 17 July 2015 – The Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives has affirmed all legal fishing vessels can continue their operations as usual, stressing that all sides must help solve all IUU issues before the EU’s next evaluation in October.
The Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Petipong Pungbun Na Ayudhya, has revealed the eradication progress of the Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing by the Thai authorities, stating that positive progress has resulted from the many measures utilized, such as the establishment of new laws and the national plan to eradicate IUU fishing. The government will be discussing with representatives of the European Union further on any extra measures required to lift the country’s status.
He has said that Thailand now needs to focus on the suppression of illegal fishing practices to demonstrate the nation’s sincerity in its fight against IUU fishing. The EU is expected to start sending its officials to gather relevant data on August 2015, prior to the official evaluation in October.
The minister has requested a cooperative effort from fisheries entrepreneurs to register their vessels and obtain legal fishing permits, which requires all fishing instruments to comply with the regulations. Furthermore, all workers involved must be employed legally.
Registered vessels that meet the regulations will be allowed to operate as normal, while unregistered vessels can still obtain their status by registering with the Marine Department or the Department of Fisheries until 31 July 2015.
The government would like to take this occasion to overhaul the fishery practices in the country to strike a balance between catch and natural resources available, while the number of legal and illegal vessels must be sorted as this issue is the key to the solution of the IUU practices. Further aid measures will be enacted to help mitigate this problem, the Minister says.
He has added that the ministry will monitor and even evaluation the effects caused by the embargo of illegal vessels, but findings shows no change to seafood products such as prawn, crab, and the Asian sea bass, as they are mostly farm raised. Affected businesses such as fish markets, ice factories, and animal feed factories are those that rely on small catches as ingredient. They are now trying to differentiate to imports from other sources, as a substitute for the decreased supply.
