The Thai Government is planning to demolish 861 unregistered fishing vessels by mid-December. (Photo: VNA)
Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai Government is planning to demolish 861unregistered fishing vessels by mid-December as part of efforts to improve thestatus of local fishery fleets and remove punishment from the European Commission(EC) on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
The vessels will be destroyed in order to clear up confusion about vesselidentification, update the Thai fishing vessels’ registry, and to ensure theboats will not be used illegally.
As of August, Thailand had more than 10,700 “white vessels” or registeredfishing vessels while 6,300 vessels are still unregistered.
A meeting on the issue will be held between the Thai Government and the EC inSeptember.
The government hopes that its efforts in the fight against illegal fishing willhelp persuade the EC to remove “yellow card” on Thai seafood. Each year,Thailand earns up to 500 million USD from seafood shipments to Europeancountries.
In May, the EC decided not to upgrade Thailand’s anti-IUU ratings but keep“yellow card” for Thailand due to the country’s poor management of fishingtrawlers and law enforcement, the Agriculture and Cooperative Ministry said.
The EC apparently found discrepancies in boat categorisation at the MarineDepartment and expects to see strict law enforcement, efficient management ofadministrative orders and clear timeframes.
The ministry said that the EC wanted Thailand to achieve visible progresswithin four months.
Since 2015, Thailand has been slapped with a “yellow card” for “shortcomings inits fisheries monitoring, controlling and sanctioning systems”. If the EC issuesa red card, Thailand’s seafood exports will be banned in EU member countries.
Last month, Indonesian authority also destroyed and sank a total of 125 boats,mostly owned by foreigners, for illegal fishing in the country’s waters. Since2014, Indonesia has sunk 488 violating fishing boats.-VNA
VNA
