Progress made on illegal fishing

[webfact]

Progress made on illegal fishing
PICHAYA CHANGSORN
THE NATION
BRUSSELS

BANGKOK: -- THE THAI government's efforts to tackle illegal fishing in a bid to avoid trade sanctions from the European Union have not all been in the right direction, said a senior executive of a leading Thai seafood exporter.

Rittirong Boonmechote, pre-sident for the global shrimp business of Thai Union Group, said |the government had made a seri-|ous attempt to solve the problem |but "half of its efforts so far were |in the right direction, while the |other half were not quite right".

The Thai Union executive was speaking on sidelines of a global seafood expo held in Brussels this week, after an announcement from the EU on Tuesday that it had given Thailand, the world's third-largest seafood exporter, six months to clean up its fishing industry or face a ban on fish imports.

"We would like to work with the government to provide support and information about what the foreign communities want from us," he said.

Ruttirong Rittirong said the government had seriously tackled human-rights and human-trafficking problems and succeeded in registering as many as 1.6 million foreign labourers over the past six months. However, there had been a failure to work cohesively among different ministries, and to communicate its achievements to the international community.

Moreover, to ensure compliance with the EU's policy on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in terms of traceability, it should register all trawlers, not just the big boats.

"There has been no impact on trade yet. But all our customers have sent us very worrying signals that if [the problem] is not solved, they will turn to buying [seafood] from other countries," he said.

Nopadol Gunavibool, head of the Thai mission to the EU and ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, said the EU's "yellow card" warning had nothing to do with Thailand's political system.

"It has nothing to do with politics. It's a technical aspect that if we make it all right, they can't do anything to us," he said.

Nopadol said no other government had made as much progress |as the current military adminis-|tration, which had finally succeed-ed in making an amendment to |the fishery law that had been de-layed for 15 years and had come |up with a concrete strategy to solve the problem of illegal fishing.

"However, everything has occurred in the short period of the past six months, while the EU has been watching us since 2010, and its view is that over the past two years, we have not made sufficient improvements," he said.

Nopadol said that if Thailand seriously tackles the problem, it should be able to get off the "yellow card" status by the six-month deadline.

"The EU [has lifted] its warning to the Philippines, which was given a red card twice in the past. [it has also lifted its warning to] South Korea, that had faced the yellow card three times over the past 18 months," he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Progress-made-on-illegal-fishing-30258525.html


-- The Nation 2015-04-23

[klauskunkel]

Progress made on illegal fishing

THE THAI government's efforts to tackle illegal fishing in a bid to avoid trade sanctions from the European Union have not all been in the right direction

Progress in the wrong direction? Meaning the fishing got more illegal?

[Anthony5]

That's fast, yesterday the warning and today progress is made already, I bet by tomorrow someone will come out to announce that now the EU understands.

[Suffinator]

"There has been no impact on trade yet. But all our customers have sent us very worrying signals that if [the problem] is not solved, they will turn to buying [seafood] from other countries," he said.

And there lies one of the biggest issues. If the EU does in fact implement and enforce a ban then retailers will look elsewhere and IF and WHEN the ban is lifted it's unlikely the retailers will bother switching back if the price / quality is comparable.

A ban could well wipe out the Thai fishing industry or damage it to a point where it will never truly recover.

[winstonc]

"There has been no impact on trade yet. But all our customers have sent us very worrying signals that if [the problem] is not solved, they will turn to buying [seafood] from other countries," he said.

And there lies one of the biggest issues. If the EU does in fact implement and enforce a ban then retailers will look elsewhere and IF and WHEN the ban is lifted it's unlikely the retailers will bother switching back if the price / quality is comparable.

A ban could well wipe out the Thai fishing industry or damage it to a point where it will never truly recover.

the fishing fleets around the planet need banning for at least a yer to replenish the dire stocks .worldwide mate..and maybe lots more fish farms..not great but most people wouldnt have a clue where its from..

[DrTuner]

Cut the money and Thais will rush into some kind of panicky action. Keep it flowing and you'll get maibpenrai. Works from single persons all the way up to the government level.

[mikemac]

"There has been no impact on trade yet. But all our customers have sent us very worrying signals that if [the problem] is not solved, they will turn to buying [seafood] from other countries," he said.

And there lies one of the biggest issues. If the EU does in fact implement and enforce a ban then retailers will look elsewhere and IF and WHEN the ban is lifted it's unlikely the retailers will bother switching back if the price / quality is comparable.

A ban could well wipe out the Thai fishing industry or damage it to a point where it will never truly recover.

the fishing fleets around the planet need banning for at least a yer to replenish the dire stocks .worldwide mate..and maybe lots more fish farms..not great but most people wouldnt have a clue where its from..

And then............................."Aquaculture Farms Using Slave Labor".........................................