Fishing boat operators issue ultimatum to govt

By The Nation

 

Fishing boat operators have threatened to stop going out to sea to catch fish if the government does not amend rules and make it more convenient for their business within a week.

 

Boonchu Paeyai, president of Phang Nga Fishing Association, held a meeting with fishing boat operators, fishing pier and large-scale fish vendors as well as representatives of local fishermen at a village hall in the Thai Muang district of Phang Nga province.

 

Boonchu said the meeting resolved to submit a call to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday and give the government a week to respond to their demand otherwise all the fishing operators would dock their boats.

 

If the government ignores their call, the fishing operators would send an appeal to His Majesty the King, Boonchu said.

 

Among other things, Boonchu said the fishing boat operators wanted the government to allow undocumented migrants and stateless people to register themselves as workers on fishing boats as the fishing industry still needed 50,000 more workers.

 

They also called on the government to speed up the purchase of fishing boats from operators who could not continue in the business because of strict measures taken by the government.

 

Boonchu said fishing boat operators saw the regulations issued by the Labour Protection and Welfare Department as impractical.

 

They also called on the Fishery Department to amend the Port-in Port-out regulations that require fishing boats to report their departure and return to ports. The fishing boat operators said the current regulations were too complicated and imposed a cost burden on them.

 

Boonchu said the fishing operators also resolved to object to the government’s plan to ratify the International Labour Organisation’s Convention C188 regarding work in the fishing sector, as the convention would require fishing boat operators to invest much more to improve the living conditions of fishing crew.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30350996

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-29

"...Among other things, Boonchu said the fishing boat operators wanted the government to allow undocumented migrants and stateless people to register themselves as workers on fishing boats as the fishing industry still needed 50,000 more workers. 

They also called on the government to speed up the purchase of fishing boats from operators who could not continue in the business because of strict measures taken by the government.."

 

If I were in government, I would just say "go ahead, do it. Don't fish and see what happens to you.".

 

If the fishermen can't follow basic rules for their profession, then they should seek another profession. If they need stateless people and undocumented people to abuse, then they should seek another profession. If they can't make a living anymore, they should sell their own boats.

 

It is not often I side with a government over fishermen, but in this case, stop whining and fix your own problems; you abused the hell out of the system and abused the hell out of people for far too long, now suck it up.

 

 

I'm going to hold my breathe till I get what I want.

Good idea, have a break, don't go out and let the remaining fish out there a bit of a breather from the daily onslaught...

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

as the convention would require fishing boat operators to invest much more to improve the living conditions of fishing crew.

Now wouldn't that be terrible, having to use what could be profits to improve safety, comfort and health of the people who risk their lives for us. What sort of people are these owners?

But for now we will have to keep using the undocumented immigrant slaves.do the world a favour and keep the boats tied up for as long as you want as it's better for the fish.polution,slaves.

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

as the convention would require fishing boat operators to invest much more to improve the living conditions of fishing crew.

What an outrageous request. How can somebody be so naive and mean to put that in a convention? Sounds to me that the boat owners have to miss out on buying another gold neclace or two for their wifes. Good for them!

Edited July 29, 20187 yr by Get Real

This would be wonderfull if it really happened. The rape of the sea could stop and the plastic polution these guys cause stop could be a win win for thailand.

Import fish from china. Problem solved.

Let the rotten boats rot in port.

 

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

If the government ignores their call, the fishing operators would send an appeal to His Majesty the King

Why? isnt he supposed to be above all that???

2 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Boonchu said the fishing operators also resolved to object to the government’s plan to ratify the International Labour Organisation’s Convention C188 regarding work in the fishing sector, as the convention would require fishing boat operators to invest much more to improve the living conditions of fishing crew.

Bummer, might have to treat them as human not sub human/Myanmars eh!!

Fishermen work hard I hope they fix this, may I suggest discovering a trunk full of ''pirate treasure and returning it to the rightfull owners''..works for those taxi bullies everyweek..

Edited July 29, 20187 yr by mok199
speliings

1 hour ago, Lungstib said:

Now wouldn't that be terrible, having to use what could be profits to improve safety, comfort and health of the people who risk their lives for us. What sort of people are these owners?

Chinese owners???

1 hour ago, Lungstib said:

Now wouldn't that be terrible, having to use what could be profits to improve safety, comfort and health of the people who risk their lives for us. What sort of people are these owners?

Greedy

regards Worgeordie

Whilst the dialogue is dated and inappropriate the image still works.

1 hour ago, Lungstib said:

Now wouldn't that be terrible, having to use what could be profits to improve safety, comfort and health of the people who risk their lives for us. What sort of people are these owners?

In the end they will just up the prices... this way they can keep their profit and better living conditions. It will be the normal people that pay and for some fish will no longer be affordable. Not saying the new rules are bad.. just giving a prediction without judging. They will never accept less profit.. almost no company would.. they would all pass it on. (unless of course they can't with exports) but the local market they are the only player in town.

In other words....''We want to go back to all our bad old ways and you should not do anything about it ''.    Typical Thai mentality; our way or no way.

 

Let them rot i say; they can all become Taxi drivers with no Meters !

2 hours ago, Lungstib said:

Now wouldn't that be terrible, having to use what could be profits to improve safety, comfort and health of the people who risk their lives for us. What sort of people are these owners?

Hmm!

Around here I know  off a married couple, a lady, and a mother  and her son that own fishing boats.

I can say they are the most evil humans ( and a  fair few Thais would back me up) i think i have ever come across  god help any of their workers  

3 hours ago, Chang_paarp said:

I'm going to hold my breathe till I get what I want.

That's sounds suspiciously like Just William's sister Violet, who also used to say "I'll scweam and scweam and make mythelf thick" (She had a lisp:-)

 

24 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

That's sounds suspiciously like Just William's sister Violet, who also used to say "I'll scweam and scweam and make mythelf thick" (She had a lisp:-)

Crikey old chap, you are dating yourself somewhat, but fortunately, many of the fothils that rethide on thith forum know exactly who you are referring to.  BTW, it's lithp.

Edited July 29, 20187 yr by ratcatcher

And still the EU dithers on this issue.

44 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

Crikey old chap, you are dating yourself somewhat, but fortunately, many of the fothils that rethide on thith forum know exactly who you are referring to.  BTW, it's lithp.

I thay! I was going to spell it "lithp" like your spelling, but was afraid it might be "Lost In Twanslation" to quote Jonathan Woss.

 

I'm not sure about dating myself, it sounds rather Narcissistic. Or I suppose you could my head off and count the rings - same as it works with trees?

 

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

Good idea, have a break, don't go out and let the remaining fish out there a bit of a breather from the daily onslaught...

 

Plus, plenty of other things to eat from the markets....

1 hour ago, ratcatcher said:

Crikey old chap, you are dating yourself somewhat, but fortunately, many of the fothils that rethide on thith forum know exactly who you are referring to.  BTW, it's lithp.

I'm going to the garden to eat worms.  So there!!!!

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Fishing boat operators have threatened to stop going out to sea to catch fish if the government does not amend rules and make it more convenient for their business within a week.

Excellent news. Let’s hope the govt does absolutely nothing. 

2 hours ago, robblok said:

In the end they will just up the prices... this way they can keep their profit and better living conditions. It will be the normal people that pay and for some fish will no longer be affordable. Not saying the new rules are bad.. just giving a prediction without judging. They will never accept less profit.. almost no company would.. they would all pass it on. (unless of course they can't with exports) but the local market they are the only player in town.

This post make you seem to be more interested in the cost of fish for the consumer than rights and health or life and safety of others.

  You try to give an arquement for slavery gives us good insight to your values.

5 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

"...Among other things, Boonchu said the fishing boat operators wanted the government to allow undocumented migrants and stateless people to register themselves as workers on fishing boats as the fishing industry still needed 50,000 more workers. 

They also called on the government to speed up the purchase of fishing boats from operators who could not continue in the business because of strict measures taken by the government.."

 

If I were in government, I would just say "go ahead, do it. Don't fish and see what happens to you.".

 

If the fishermen can't follow basic rules for their profession, then they should seek another profession. If they need stateless people and undocumented people to abuse, then they should seek another profession. If they can't make a living anymore, they should sell their own boats.

 

It is not often I side with a government over fishermen, but in this case, stop whining and fix your own problems; you abused the hell out of the system and abused the hell out of people for far too long, now suck it up.

 

 

 

The point is, that back in the early sixties fishermen caught about 360Kg of fish per hour. By today this value is down to 18 Kg, according to the Department of Fisheries. Thus fishermen can only make profits using slavery, or almost unpaid work. The government should have bought fishery protection vessels instead of submarines, and boost their presence in the Gulf and the Andaman, to fight IUU fishing and the presence of foreign fishing boats inside the Thai economic zone, besides implementing fishing rates, that the fish population in the seas surrounding Thailand has a chance to recover.

 

PS: Newer numbers from the Fishery department are not available yet, but I doubt, that they have improved.

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

If the government ignores their call, the fishing operators would send an appeal to His Majesty the King, Boonchu said.

 

How much is P&P to Germany?

On 7/29/2018 at 5:39 AM, rooster59 said:

Among other things, Boonchu said the fishing boat operators wanted the government to allow undocumented migrants and stateless people to register themselves as workers on fishing boats as the fishing industry still needed 50,000 more workers.

No one should be allowed to work unless they have a work permit. If they had that then none of them would want to work in the fishing industry because the pay and the conditions are no good. That would make the boat owners pay more, and have decent accommodations to get workers. Then of course the price of seafood would have to rise.

 

If the gov't has regulated fishermen out of business because they can't make a profit, then the gov't should hurry and purchase their vessels back, at a meager price. (gov'ts are good at doing this) (gov'ts are also good at regulating business's out of business)

 

With regard to notifying officials every time they leave or enter port! I'd say <deleted> that!

 

 

1 hour ago, ratcatcher said:

Crikey old chap, you are dating yourself somewhat, but fortunately, many of the fothils that rethide on thith forum know exactly who you are referring to.  BTW, it's lithp.

We know a joke about that, don't we children?

 

( Hale and Pace )

29 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Excellent news. Let’s hope the govt does absolutely nothing. 

No problem there, then.