Illustrative photo (Source: nongnghiep.vn) Bangkok (VNA) - Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand PrawitWongsuwon has urged all authorities concerned to maintain their effortsin curbing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and strictlyenforce the laws to tackle forced labour and human trafficking in the sector.
Patchasak Patirupanont, an assistant spokesmanfor Prawit, said the officia emphasised the government's commitmentto stamp out illegal fishing activities and promote sustainable fishing duringa meeting of the national committee on fisheries policy.
The committee approved the 2020-2022 fisheriesmanagement plan, which was designed to ensure the development of a moresustainable fishing and fisheries sector and the second national plan of actionon IUU (NPOA-IUU), which was revised to cover all aspects of fishingactivities, said Patchasak.
He said the committee also endorsed measures thatwould ensure a fair, transparent and swift processing of IUU and related casesof forced labour and human trafficking.
According to Patchasak, the committee wasprovided with an update on multiple measures taken to fulfil obligations tofight against IUU fishing and related issues.
The Marine Department was speeding up the registrationof small-scale fishing boats. Based on the department's latest survey on May 20this year, there were 56,087 of them.
He said the committee was also updating the draftingof guidelines for compliance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA)Import Rule of the United States.
The committee also reportedly acknowledged thegranting of funds worth more than 2.82 billion THB (90.6 million USD) torehabilitate the livelihoods of 188,134 fishermen and the extension of workpermits for migrant workers in the sector during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government's attempt to overhaul the management ofthe fisheries system began in 2015 when the European Union flagged Thailand forIUU activity and threatened to ban its seafood imports unless improvements weremade, Bangkok Post said./.
VNA
