Over 2,000 commercial fishing operators are selling their fishing vessels to the government after they have been affected by a myriad of regulations imposed to solve illegal, unreported and unregulated [IUU] fishing.
Fishing boat owners such as those in the southern province of Songkhla province have demanded the government to buy their fishing vessels.
Pinyo Pinijsathira, a Songkhla fisherman, said he had stopped fishing for three years because of tough fishing regulations and now decided to quit his 30-year career.
There are reportedly some 2,505 vessels claimed to have been affected by the anti-IUU policies. The government has, meanwhile, pledged to buy hundreds of trawlers from companies and to relax several fishing regulations, according to a government spokesperson.
The current administration has introduced several fishing regulations since the European Union gave Thailand a “yellow card” status over IUU fishing issues in 2015. Claiming the rules have hurt the fishing industry, the National Fisheries Association of Thailand (NFAT) has threatened to stage a mass protest in Bangkok to pressure the government to ease the regulations.(TNA)
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