Bangkok – The Fisheries Department has urged fishing vessel operators, who have already been given permission to catch fish and crustaceans, to have a code painted on the side of the boat before the end of May.
Fisheries Department Director-General Dr. Adisorn Promthep, said the requirement for vessels to display the code came into effect on April 1 when it was published in the Royal Gazette.
The move is to solve issues related to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU). The code, which must be visible on the side of the vessel, consists of four sets of letters and numbers. For example, the letter ‘T’ of the code ‘T-M-245-B’ indicates that the boat lawfully operates in the Gulf of Thailand while the second letter ‘M’ means that the vessel weighs at least 30 but less than 60 gross tons. The number ‘245’ is the registration number and the letter ‘B’ is used to indicate that the particular boat is equipped with a seine net.
All legal fishing vessels must now have such a code painted on the side no later than May.
