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Fishing boats on a pier in Phuket province. (Photo: Stock File)
Navy inspects fishing piers to combat IUU fishing
THAILAND
Wednesday, February 01, 2017, 01:10 (GMT + 9)
As part of the measures to address illegal fishing, the Royal Thai Navy launched an operation on Monday to inspect 160 fishing piers in six provinces along the Andaman coast.
The government assigned the Royal Thai Navy to establish a Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCIF) to solve the problem.
The CCIF has in turn instructed the navy's 3rd Area Coordinating Centre for Maritime Interests Protection to pull together efforts to combat illegal fishing along the Andaman coastal areas, which include a total of 160 registered fishing piers in six Andaman provinces: Phuket, Ranong, Phangnga, Krabi, Trang and Satun.
Rear Admiral Pisai Sukman, commander of the Third Naval Area, said inspecting fishing piers is another important step in solving illegal fishing as piers are where seafood and marine products are unloaded from fishing vessels.
He also explained fishing must follow rigorous standards and be subject to checks on the origin and amount of the catch, along with hygiene. These details are collected along with similar information obtained from the vessel owners themselves.
He warned that those piers that do not meet standard requirements would be pulled down, the Bangkok Post reported.
Thai fishing undergoes a problematic situation, which gained attention from the government last year when the European Union (EU) warned Thailand had not done enough to stop the (IUUF).
On 21 April 2015 the EU gave Thailand a "yellow card," which serves as a final warning against such unacceptable practices, and urged swifter progress in combating illegal fishing.
Thailand risks getting a red card, which means the EU would ban the country's seafood imports, if it fails to comply with international standards.
Related articles:
- EU puts off deadline for Thailand to address illegal fishing
- EJF recommends further steps against IUU fishing and slave labour
- New effort to combat labour abuse in Thai fishing sector
- NGOs urge EU to put pressure on Thailand
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