EU to assess Thai fishing sector this month

By THE NATION

 

File photo

 

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) will assess Thailand’s performance against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing again this month to see if it should lift the yellow flag against the Kingdom’s fishing sector.
 

“We will produce evidence showing that we have seriously enforced laws against IUU fishing problems,” Defence Ministry’s spokesman Pol Lt-General Kongcheep Tantravanich said yesterday. 

 

 He was speaking after emerging from a meeting with the steering committee on reforms for security, inequality reduction, agriculture, natural resources and environment.

 

Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon, who is also defence minister, the meeting learned that 10,771 of some 20,000 fishing trawlers in Thailand have already undergone proper registration and have complied with international laws.

 

Updates also showed that the Marine Department and police had taken action against 200 illegal boats. Their owners, if identified and convicted, could face a fine, jail term and a 10-year ban from fishing. 

 

Since 2015, Thailand has been slapped with a yellow flag for “shortcomings in its fisheries monitoring, control and sanctioning systems”. If the EU were to issue a red flag, Thailand’s seafood exports to Europe will be banned. This could cause serious economic damages because Thailand exports more than Bt30 billion of fisheries products to Europe.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30354320

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-13

This is an ongoing farce, just the other day we saw the boat catching Whale sharks. The fisherman are still protesting against the rules. 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

10,771 of some 20,000 fishing trawlers in Thailand have already undergone proper registration and have complied with international laws.

Which leave 9,229 that have not. No reason to lift the yellow card. But the EU won't give a red card - they're all bark and no bite. A yellow card makes it look like they're serious about tackling the problem, but the truth is they want cheap seafood. 

 

If you think of the EU yellow card being like a Thai crackdown, it makes more sense.

Something smells fishy....

Waiting for one of the deputy PMs to declare that the EU will remove all warnings about Thai fishing industry so the boat owners can go back to their old practices.

This will open a can of worms

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Updates also showed that the Marine Department and police had taken action against 200 illegal boats. Their owners, if identified and convicted, could face a fine, jail term and a 10-year ban from fishing. 

I notice the inclusion of the word 'could' not the word will. Leaving the harsh punishments of jail, fines or bans completely harmless if any prosecution actually took place. Renders the whole thing meaningless.

Must be paid holiday time for the EU personnel again.