An employee of a Thai shrimp processing plant. (Photo: Solidarity Center)

Thai IUU and modern slavery must be addressed as interconnected issues, EJF says

WORLDWIDE
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 01:50 (GMT + 9)

Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) warns that overfishing, pirate fishing and modern-day slavery in the Thai fishing industry must be addressed as interconnected issues.

The NGO argues that these problems threaten governance and economic sustainability in the region, leaving aside the human cost and wildlife devastation.

The Asian country is the third largest seafood exporter in the world, with exports valued at USD 7 billion in 2013, and is the leading supplier of seafood to the US. However, up to 39 per cent of wild-caught seafood entering the US market from Thailand has been caught illegally, a study carried out in 2014 estimates.

On a new report published on Wednesday, entitled Pirates and Slaves — How overfishing in Thailand fuels human trafficking and the plundering of our oceans, EJF points out that during the last century, Thai fishing fast industrialization led to the application of unsustainable fishing methods, making the country’s waters ones of the most over-fished regions on the planet.

In addition it indicates that having depleted fish stocks, shrimps producers use juveniles of commercially important species to produce feed.

Besides vessels must stay longer at sea and move further away to catch, and working conditions on the vessels are appalling.

A number of NGOs have reported and documented modern-day slavery in Thailand’s seafood industry, including child and forced labour, forced detention, extreme violence and murder since 2013.

As a result, US Department of State downgraded Thailand to Tier 3 in its 2014 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

According to EJF's research, the measures addressed by the Government of Thailand in the past year indicate that even the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking are not met. Therefore, they strongly recommend Thailand to be kept at level 3 in the 2015 TIP Report, as a clear signal that the Thai government should implement a deeper programme of measures and reforms.

The NGO also warns that non-selective trawl fishing by pirate fishing vessels seriously threatens the integrity of marine ecosystems.

Although whale sharks are legally protected in Thailand, they have also been reported as bycatch in trawl nets.

Moreover, purse seiners, whose number is still increasing, use light lures to catch anchovies and squid, damaging juvenile stocks of many economically important bycatch fish species.

In its new report, EJF estimates that by reducing fishing capacity in the trawler fleet by just 30 per cent a net economic benefit of almost USD1 billion would be achieved, and many of the costs during the transition could be alleviated by increasing licensing and registration fees to more realistic levels in a stronger business model.

Steve Trent, Executive Director of EJF, stated, “It is vital to address overfishing, pirate fishing and slavery in Thailand as one fundamentally interconnected problem. The starting point must be an honest appraisal of the scale and extent of the social and environmental problems facing the Thai seafood industry.”

“All stakeholders must work together to ensure the protection of the oceans and marine life, and eradication of slavery at sea,” he stressed.

Related articles:

- MEPs urge Thailand to address fishing industry forced labour
- Thailand downgraded to Tier 3 in Trafficking in Persons Report

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