Investors Target Phuket As Tuna-Industry Hub

[george]

Investors target Phuket as tuna-industry hub

Phuket Fishing Port is already home to the third-largest tuna industry in Asia with

200 tuna boats. The move would double Phuket’s tuna-fishing fleet. Photo: file

PHUKET: In a move that would more than double Phuket’s tuna-fishing fleet – already the third largest in Asia – a delegation of Taiwanese investors are looking to set up an operations center in Phuket to take advantage of increased tuna stocks in the Andaman Sea.

The delegation of executives from Singapore-based Seaspire International floated the idea yesterday at a meeting with Phuket Governor Tri Augkaradacha.

The delegation’s Thai representative Supakorn Boonkhamied told Gov Tri that large stocks of Indian Ocean tuna had migrated from Indonesian waters to the Andaman Sea.

To take advantage of this, Seaspire International would like to move its regional operations base from Indonesia to Phuket.

The move would see the company’s 300 tuna-fishing vessels make Phuket their home port, more than doubling the island’s existing fleet of 200 tuna boats.

The company is seeking government assistance in fast-tracking an export license application made by its Thai subsidiary to the Ministry of Commerce.

The license is needed as the company’s catch is exported solely to markets in the US and Japan, Mr Supakorn said.

“We need a cold-storage facility to keep our fish as fresh as possible, because we can fish for tuna only six months a year and processed tuna has a higher value-added yield than fresh tuna,” he explained.

“We are currently studying the possibility of expanding our investment. We are ready to gear up for this business and hope to find the right location by the end of March,” Mr Supakorn added.

Gov Tri told the group he would liaise with all the relevant government agencies to ensure that all the necessary documents are processed as quickly as possible.

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-01-08

[Colabamumbai]

So they basically want a Cold Storage facility where they can store the fish for at least 6 months to watch the price go up. Soon we will be trading in Tuna futures, much like we can other resources now.

[Crushdepth]

Hubba hubba hubba!!!

So they basically want a Cold Storage facility where they can store the fish for at least 6 months to watch the price go up. Soon we will be trading in Tuna futures, much like we can other resources now.

Yep. Or they might be looking for a closer port to tranship tuna raided from neighbouring countries. Since the Taiwanese are very much involved in distant water fishing and very much aware of the status of tuna stocks, we can conclude that the line about 'increased stocks in the Andaman Sea' is a load of crap.

We need a cold-storage facility to keep our fish as fresh as possible.

And the bodies of the crew when they decide its cheaper to kill them than to pay them. If you're looking for human rights abuses, this industry is one of the *worst* on the planet.

[beejoir]

Great time to do it .... fuc_king mugs.... just in time for any quota slashes, and bans.

[jackr]

I wish I could receive a baht for every hub on TV

[Thai at Heart]

I wish I could receive a baht for every hub on TV

It is the delusion that Thailand is at the centre of the hubs and commands the neighbouring countries to spin at their will, that is the problem.

Edited January 8, 2011 by Thai at Heart

[Johpa]

I thought investors had long targeted Patong beach, second only to Pattaya, as a tuna fishing hub.

[housepainter]

Life is a paradox.

You have a beautiful stretch of unspoint sand, pristine beach and you spoil it. You build 5 star luxury hotels right fit for Seria A Italian footbalers and their International model girlfriends, next to shanty karokes that never close and worse never turn the noise down. You go fine dining and employ European pastry chefs and Michellin starred maestros, and look out on street carts bar-b quing rat and frying all manner of insects. You laugh at tiny dogs dressed in shorts and top, travelling on motorbikes and you cry at neglected, half-starved, mainge ridden, part mutilated strays kicked-out at by motorcycle taxi drivers.

You stare out to sea at the bobbing tiny brightly painted craft of the local Thai fishermen looking beyond the brash, glaring stark white yachts of the holidaying foreigners.

You admire the silent beauty of a racing wind surfer and cringe at the roaring danger of a speeding jetski so close to the swimmers.

You admire the proud mother's dressing their tiny tots up to the nines for Thai dancing festivals and you despair at the mother's holding an under nourished babe wrapped in rags begging at the road side.

You're fascinated by the male tattoos covering an entire torso in Buddha text and chedi imagery and yet are confounded by the female tattoos of several christian names and the crowning ubiquitous lower spine foliage.

You're held in a sense of awe and wonder by the acoustic guitar strumming and smooth soft voiced singing of a stool seated Thai singer in an open restaurant and left baffled by a drunken tourist, Chang in hand, crooning 'My Way' and strugging to read the screen's lyrics in a bar he'll keep emptied all night.

You photograph the families on their motorbikes. Inevitably the very young parents and the compulsory single toddler that travels with them, behind dad but standing up in front of mom, carefully sandwiched in place, on a motorbike weaving through early evening traffic.

You want to photograph just one farang- thaigirl couple walking hand in hand, side by side and in every other sense miles apart, as no one will believe you back home that these finely sculptured, lithely attractive young women can really give themselves to such fat, old, dirty men.

You don't blame the women but you do blame the men.

You run through the obvious reason of poverty, and know you've found the answer and can understand why the women do it .

You don't want to run through the obvious reason why the men are there and wish you were somewhere else.

It's a paradox.

And even when an act of god wipes out by way of a tsunami all the engrained corrupt filth that has spread like desease through every corner of Phuket and restores it to an unspoilt, cleansed place of opportunity, the Thais reconstruct the same sewers of filth that were just rinsed clean.

A paradox then.

Then the Thais agree to adding a dirty Taiwanese, environmentally unacceptable, tuna processing factory that will see 300 vessels using Phuket to unload their murdered carcasses. A fishing fleet that will roam the seas using Phuket as a base to freeze the tuna. Untold damage because this kind of story will not be told as it is, as it happens, outside of rule or regulation.

And where's the paradox?

Well in this case there isn't one. There is a small Thai fishing fleet that subsists rather than rapes the sea of an endangered species. But it subsists by taking what it catches of a plentiful, varied resource. Whereas, the Taiwanese, thanks to the Thais that accept the payments, will target a single threatened species only, raiding sovereign waters and returning to the bought and paid for protection of Thai waters. A place where their protection has been bought and paid for, the Navy paid, the Police paid, the local politicians paid, and all under the counter, with no questions asked, and every Thai licence, of course, in place.

After all, this is Thailand.

If only they had brains they'd be inviting the Somali Pirates to travel further and call in for that Amazing Thailand experience after hitting all those cargo laden ships to and froing from HK.

Thais and Brains. Now there's the real paradox.

[fstarbkk]

Oh what a relief! For a moment there, I thought we'd have to finish the week without Thailand having one more HUB in its never-ending string of hubs. Seems to be a national obsession with the Thais to proclaim themselves as the hub of anything they have more than one or two of.

[asiawatcher]

Life is a paradox.

You have a beautiful stretch of unspoint sand, pristine beach and you spoil it. You build 5 star luxury hotels right fit for Seria A Italian footbalers and their International model girlfriends, next to shanty karokes that never close and worse never turn the noise down. You go fine dining and employ European pastry chefs and Michellin starred maestros, and look out on street carts bar-b quing rat and frying all manner of insects. You laugh at tiny dogs dressed in shorts and top, travelling on motorbikes and you cry at neglected, half-starved, mainge ridden, part mutilated strays kicked-out at by motorcycle taxi drivers.

You stare out to sea at the bobbing tiny brightly painted craft of the local Thai fishermen looking beyond the brash, glaring stark white yachts of the holidaying foreigners.

You admire the silent beauty of a racing wind surfer and cringe at the roaring danger of a speeding jetski so close to the swimmers.

You admire the proud mother's dressing their tiny tots up to the nines for Thai dancing festivals and you despair at the mother's holding an under nourished babe wrapped in rags begging at the road side.

You're fascinated by the male tattoos covering an entire torso in Buddha text and chedi imagery and yet are confounded by the female tattoos of several christian names and the crowning ubiquitous lower spine foliage.

You're held in a sense of awe and wonder by the acoustic guitar strumming and smooth soft voiced singing of a stool seated Thai singer in an open restaurant and left baffled by a drunken tourist, Chang in hand, crooning 'My Way' and strugging to read the screen's lyrics in a bar he'll keep emptied all night.

You photograph the families on their motorbikes. Inevitably the very young parents and the compulsory single toddler that travels with them, behind dad but standing up in front of mom, carefully sandwiched in place, on a motorbike weaving through early evening traffic.

You want to photograph just one farang- thaigirl couple walking hand in hand, side by side and in every other sense miles apart, as no one will believe you back home that these finely sculptured, lithely attractive young women can really give themselves to such fat, old, dirty men.

You don't blame the women but you do blame the men.

You run through the obvious reason of poverty, and know you've found the answer and can understand why the women do it .

You don't want to run through the obvious reason why the men are there and wish you were somewhere else.

It's a paradox.

And even when an act of god wipes out by way of a tsunami all the engrained corrupt filth that has spread like desease through every corner of Phuket and restores it to an unspoilt, cleansed place of opportunity, the Thais reconstruct the same sewers of filth that were just rinsed clean.

A paradox then.

Then the Thais agree to adding a dirty Taiwanese, environmentally unacceptable, tuna processing factory that will see 300 vessels using Phuket to unload their murdered carcasses. A fishing fleet that will roam the seas using Phuket as a base to freeze the tuna. Untold damage because this kind of story will not be told as it is, as it happens, outside of rule or regulation.

And where's the paradox?

Well in this case there isn't one. There is a small Thai fishing fleet that subsists rather than rapes the sea of an endangered species. But it subsists by taking what it catches of a plentiful, varied resource. Whereas, the Taiwanese, thanks to the Thais that accept the payments, will target a single threatened species only, raiding sovereign waters and returning to the bought and paid for protection of Thai waters. A place where their protection has been bought and paid for, the Navy paid, the Police paid, the local politicians paid, and all under the counter, with no questions asked, and every Thai licence, of course, in place.

After all, this is Thailand.

If only they had brains they'd be inviting the Somali Pirates to travel further and call in for that Amazing Thailand experience after hitting all those cargo laden ships to and froing from HK.

Thais and Brains. Now there's the real paradox.

It's a pity your spelling does not match your prose Nicely put and a good read.

[mca]

You have a beautiful stretch of unspoint sand, pristine beach and you spoil it. You build 5 star luxury hotels right fit for Seria A Italian footbalers and their International model girlfriends, next to shanty karokes that never close and worse never turn the noise down. You go fine dining and employ European pastry chefs and Michellin starred maestros, and look out on street carts bar-b quing rat and frying all manner of insects. You laugh at tiny dogs dressed in shorts and top, travelling on motorbikes and you cry at neglected, half-starved, mainge ridden, part mutilated strays kicked-out at by motorcycle taxi drivers.

You stare out to sea at the bobbing tiny brightly painted craft of the local Thai fishermen looking beyond the brash, glaring stark white yachts of the holidaying foreigners.

You admire the silent beauty of a racing wind surfer and cringe at the roaring danger of a speeding jetski so close to the swimmers.

You admire the proud mother's dressing their tiny tots up to the nines for Thai dancing festivals and you despair at the mother's holding an under nourished babe wrapped in rags begging at the road side.

You're fascinated by the male tattoos covering an entire torso in Buddha text and chedi imagery and yet are confounded by the female tattoos of several christian names and the crowning ubiquitous lower spine foliage.

You're held in a sense of awe and wonder by the acoustic guitar strumming and smooth soft voiced singing of a stool seated Thai singer in an open restaurant and left baffled by a drunken tourist, Chang in hand, crooning 'My Way' and strugging to read the screen's lyrics in a bar he'll keep emptied all night.

You photograph the families on their motorbikes. Inevitably the very young parents and the compulsory single toddler that travels with them, behind dad but standing up in front of mom, carefully sandwiched in place, on a motorbike weaving through early evening traffic.

You want to photograph just one farang- thaigirl couple walking hand in hand, side by side and in every other sense miles apart, as no one will believe you back home that these finely sculptured, lithely attractive young women can really give themselves to such fat, old, dirty men.

You don't blame the women but you do blame the men.

You run through the obvious reason of poverty, and know you've found the answer and can understand why the women do it .

You don't want to run through the obvious reason why the men are there and wish you were somewhere else.

Me? I'm just sitting in front of the PC with a cup of java.

[Soutpeel]

Life is a paradox.

You have a beautiful stretch of unspoint sand, pristine beach and you spoil it. You build 5 star luxury hotels right fit for Seria A Italian footbalers and their International model girlfriends, next to shanty karokes that never close and worse never turn the noise down. You go fine dining and employ European pastry chefs and Michellin starred maestros, and look out on street carts bar-b quing rat and frying all manner of insects. You laugh at tiny dogs dressed in shorts and top, travelling on motorbikes and you cry at neglected, half-starved, mainge ridden, part mutilated strays kicked-out at by motorcycle taxi drivers.

You stare out to sea at the bobbing tiny brightly painted craft of the local Thai fishermen looking beyond the brash, glaring stark white yachts of the holidaying foreigners.

You admire the silent beauty of a racing wind surfer and cringe at the roaring danger of a speeding jetski so close to the swimmers.

You admire the proud mother's dressing their tiny tots up to the nines for Thai dancing festivals and you despair at the mother's holding an under nourished babe wrapped in rags begging at the road side.

You're fascinated by the male tattoos covering an entire torso in Buddha text and chedi imagery and yet are confounded by the female tattoos of several christian names and the crowning ubiquitous lower spine foliage.

You're held in a sense of awe and wonder by the acoustic guitar strumming and smooth soft voiced singing of a stool seated Thai singer in an open restaurant and left baffled by a drunken tourist, Chang in hand, crooning 'My Way' and strugging to read the screen's lyrics in a bar he'll keep emptied all night.

You photograph the families on their motorbikes. Inevitably the very young parents and the compulsory single toddler that travels with them, behind dad but standing up in front of mom, carefully sandwiched in place, on a motorbike weaving through early evening traffic.

You want to photograph just one farang- thaigirl couple walking hand in hand, side by side and in every other sense miles apart, as no one will believe you back home that these finely sculptured, lithely attractive young women can really give themselves to such fat, old, dirty men.

You don't blame the women but you do blame the men.

You run through the obvious reason of poverty, and know you've found the answer and can understand why the women do it .

You don't want to run through the obvious reason why the men are there and wish you were somewhere else.

It's a paradox.

And even when an act of god wipes out by way of a tsunami all the engrained corrupt filth that has spread like desease through every corner of Phuket and restores it to an unspoilt, cleansed place of opportunity, the Thais reconstruct the same sewers of filth that were just rinsed clean.

A paradox then.

Then the Thais agree to adding a dirty Taiwanese, environmentally unacceptable, tuna processing factory that will see 300 vessels using Phuket to unload their murdered carcasses. A fishing fleet that will roam the seas using Phuket as a base to freeze the tuna. Untold damage because this kind of story will not be told as it is, as it happens, outside of rule or regulation.

And where's the paradox?

Well in this case there isn't one. There is a small Thai fishing fleet that subsists rather than rapes the sea of an endangered species. But it subsists by taking what it catches of a plentiful, varied resource. Whereas, the Taiwanese, thanks to the Thais that accept the payments, will target a single threatened species only, raiding sovereign waters and returning to the bought and paid for protection of Thai waters. A place where their protection has been bought and paid for, the Navy paid, the Police paid, the local politicians paid, and all under the counter, with no questions asked, and every Thai licence, of course, in place.

After all, this is Thailand.

If only they had brains they'd be inviting the Somali Pirates to travel further and call in for that Amazing Thailand experience after hitting all those cargo laden ships to and froing from HK.

Thais and Brains. Now there's the real paradox.

It's a pity your spelling does not match your prose

Nice to see the English police are out and about doing their duty....

[Bagwan]

You want to photograph just one farang- thaigirl couple walking hand in hand, side by side and in every other sense miles apart, as no one will believe you back home that these finely sculptured, lithely attractive young women can really give themselves to such fat, old, dirty men.

Such a pity to spoil a nice thoughtful piece with this bit.

Fat is attractive in many parts of the world in fact in some parts gross is super attractive. Putting on a few extra pounds goes with the territory as time goes by. That said beer guts are right up there with tattoos in being visually unappealing in my book. BTW in the developed world most are getting fatter with about 50% clinically obese according to some reports.

There is something wrong in being of advanced years? It is a whole lot better than the alternative. Should we all do away with ourselves on our 50th birthday? Or be locked up away from public view? I am not into sweet young things who, more often that not are well into themselves as most of the young that I see are, and much prefer the more mature variety, but I do recognise that many are. I also recognise that it is none of my business and that everybody has the right to exercise their personal choice of companion.

I am not sure that I understand what you are trying to say by associating 'dirty' with well upholstered senior citizens. If you mean unclean I would say that not many fine young Thai ladies would keep company with a ragged assed smelly tramp. Taking regular showers and care over ones ablutions is not a prerogative or practice solely of the young. A lack of respect towards their elders unfortunately is.

If you are proposing that attractive female company and sex should only be available for the slim, young and beautiful I guess that you are one of those that supposes that your parents sex life abruptly came to an end at the moment of your conception. Get real. The body may age and wither but the mind doesn't. Why should it be a matter for untoward comment if a young lady consorts with somebody who displays more consideration and good manners, is unlikely to to be in training for the next Sex Olympics, has something interesting to say and is likely to reward her more generously? Why should she not prefer the caresses of an experienced and knowledgeable man than endure the fumbling of mere tyros?

[Bagwan]

I do not believe for a nanosecond that tuna have packed their bags and left Indonesian waters for those of the more equable Andaman Islands. What is more probable is that the Taiwanese have fished out their former haunts and now want to rape another sea area. I hope that the Indian and Myanmar Governments are as aggressive as Iceland in preserving fish stocks and the right to fish in their waters. One of the reasons put forward by the Somali pirates for their actions is that others have 'hoovered up' all the fish in their coastal areas.