A fishing boat of Thailand. (Photo: fotopedia.com) Bangkok (VNA) - The Royal Thai Police has established a special taskforce, called “IUU Hunter”, to monitor and control the fishing industry and stop illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) in Thailand's territorial waters.
According to Thai deputy national police chief Pol Lt-General Surachet Hakpal, the unit will have around 100 officers who will actively investigate the fishing industry in 22 coastal provinces to ensure that their business operations are legal and free of forced labour or victims of human trafficking syndicates.
They will start with investigating over 10,000 commercial fishing boats that have registered with the Department of Fisheries and will get their licences in February and March, he said.
Interested entrepreneurs can contact the provincial fishery office or the PIPO fishery centre to get their trawlers investigated and ensure that they comply with related laws.
Surachet said that the taskforce will help improve Thailand’s monitoring, control and surveillance capability against IUU fishing and human trafficking./.
