Crustacean Aquaculture In Thailand

[Brian67]

Anyone had any experience with aquaculture in the land of smiles? In paritcular with prawn farming, both salt and fresh water varieties.

I'm seeking information and feedback on whether it may be a viable means of creating a business not with a view to a quick buck but a sustainable operation.

There seems to be a lot of stuff on the web in general in regards to aquaculture in Thailand with particular reference to the explosion of prawn farms in the coastal area's in the late 80's and the problems that followed (mangrove devastation, diseases causing high mortality, overproduction rendering land useless after 4-5 years etc. etc.) but was curious to know how those that tried it, found the experience

Any takers?

[xen]

I think you will find aquaculture on the list of prohibited occupations for non Thais in Thailand.

Also Thailand is one of the major exporters of "farmed" prawnsin the asia area and was be quite competitive if u entered the field.

[WatersEdge]

xen,

If Aquaculture is prohibited,

then there are a whole lot of us foreigners

up to our eyeballs in deep deep trouble.

A bunch of us raise fish completely in public view,

and I've never heard one word of hush hush caution,

never a whisper of official rebuke.

I have received strange looks,

as to why on earth would a daffy foreigner want to farm fish,

but no one ever objected or prohibited.

Fish Farming is my main justification activity on my Work Permit papers.

Don't you think the Labor Department would say something?

I understand that often current policy carries the day,

while the letter of the law says something different,

but I assure you, there is nothing legally scary about farming in Thailand.

My attorney would have warned me by now.

Technical issues, Market concerns, Climate troubles, Cultural & Labor relations, Thievery...yeah, they are tricky

Legal problems? Never.

This is the Farming in Thailand forum...

contributed to mainly by English speaking foreigners

none of whom write and share so as to conceal what we do.

There are some good fish farmers on this forum,

who provide business plan data on their numbers and methods.

They are so busted, don't you think?

Brian67,

Dman the torpedoes...Flul speed ahead

Have fun farming prawns,

and above all, sustain yourself first,

because it is certain that no one else will sustain you.

If you attempt business lacking determination to make money,

then you are assured of losing a bundle,

because a profit isn't earned by mishap in Thailand.

Farming is War, wage it well.

On the other hand,

a well operated sustainable farm will grow prawns and make money.

Prawns are the trickiest aquaculture out there,

so even if you fail at that, you can still raise easier fish.

A farmer friend back home wryly observed,

A sheep is an animal looking for an excuse to die.

I understand Prawn to be the sheep of the water.

A hatchery owner told me, Catfish are the pig of the water.

Someone else has said, Tilapia is the chicken of the water.

I've run out of clever land animal analogies.

[xen]

Waters edge,

You are right about it not being on the list . I just googgled it to check and the list for prohibited occupations is :

List Annexed to the Royal Decree Naming Occupations and Professions Prohibited to Foreigners, B.E. 2522 (1979)

The Alien Business Law (N.E.C. Announcement 281). Business activities falling in categories A & B are generally closed to foreigners. Under category C you must obtain a permit prior to commencing business. Businesses outside these categories are exempt. The Ministry of Commerce will also help applications of non trading offices.

Category A:

1.Agriculture: rice farming; salt farming. Commercial Business: Internal trade in local agriculture products, Land trade. Service business: Accounting, farming animals, architecture, advertising, brokerage, auctioning, Barber, hair dressing & beautician. Building industry.

Category B.

1. Agriculture Business: orchids, cultivation, animal husbandry including silk worm raising, timbering, fishing.

2. Industrial & Handicraft: Rice milling, Flour making, sugar, alcohol & non alcohol drinks, Ice cream, Pharmaceutical manufacturing, cold storage, timber, gold, silver and inlaid stone, wood carving, lacquer-ware, match making, cement etc, Dynamiting rocks, Manufacturing garments & shoes, Printing, newspaper publishing, silk weaving or silk printing, manufacture of finished products in silk.

3. Commercial: all retailing not in category C. Or trading not in Category C, selling food an drinks, trading of antiques & fine arts.

4 Service Industry: Tour agency, Hotels except Hotel management, photography, laundering, dress making and service jobs.

5. Land, water & ie. transport.

I am sure there have been numerous other posts concernining this list- i stand corrected.

[WatersEdge]

Hi xen,

For all the previous talk about the list,

yours is the first post I have seen of it.

Thanks for putting the solid information up.

For future reference of readers who may want to know details,

could you post the link that you discovered the information on?

There is a further twist to this prohibition,

since a foreigner needs a company to hire him

in order to receive a Work Permit.

Typically that company is formed by a foreigner in partnership with a Thai citizen.

which makes it a Thailand company with majority Thai citizen shareholding.

There are no prohibitions on what that company can do.

The usefulness of the foreigner to the company function must be justified,

by showing that he has experience / skills

not readily available from the Thai labor pool.

There are theoretic restrictions on particular tasks

that the foreign employee can do in that company.

In daily activity, there are no practical restraints

after the general Work Permit requirements are met.

For instance, even though it is technically prohibited,

No one is going to actually object

if a foreigner hauls company freight in his small truck.

The law is understood to be impractical,

forcing the company to get a Thai driver,

every time the truck normally driven by the foreigner is required to carry something.

Specific example of this is

me hauling fuel or fertilizer from city to the farm.

That's legally prohibited, I'm supposed to hire a Thai driver.

But I've only every had a driver haul supplies one time,

when I needed him to cover the truck while I did something else.

The other obstacles to farming that I mentioned above are far more real.

[Brian67]

Watersedge and xen

I did come across this on the BOI website so xen you may be correct in that shrimp farming doesn't qualify but fish farming does.

Watersedge has a good point in that the farang generally is the minor shareholder (even though the farang has usually stumped up100% of the capital, but thats another subject)

At the moment I'm still in the "looking at potential possibilities" stage using the forum for feedback. The ultimate aim is to have something that can hold its own without me having to return home, work, then send the money to Thailand to prop it up. I'm sure there's a lot of people who know what I'm talking about here!

Anyway will see where a bit more research and questions get mesection1.pdf