Angry Thai fishermen call for rules delay

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Angry fishermen call for rules delay
THE NATION



Hundreds protest over new rules to overhaul the fishing industry and avoid a ban by the EU

BANGKOK: -- SEVERAL HUNDRED fishermen along Thailand's coastal provinces have urged the government to delay new rules and regulations to crack down on so-called illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing practices as required by the European Union, which last week told Thai authorities the country has not done enough to solve the IUU issue.

In Samut Sakhon, 300 fishermen gathered yesterday to demand the delay of the measures, saying they have caused them financial hardship as the authorities no longer allowed vessels with certain types of fishing nets to operate.

Pradit Lekdee, president of Samut Sakhon "Oun Roon" Fishermen's Club, said representatives from neighbouring coastal provinces such as Samut Songkham, Samut Prakan, and Phetchaburi had joined the Samut Sakhon fishing industry in opposing the government's move to comply with the EU demand.

On Friday, Deputy Premier General Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters the EU had sent a letter to the government indicating the country needed to take more action to solve the IUU problem.

Thailand has been given another two months to fulfil its pledge to eradicate the IUU fishing practices after the EU warned four months ago that it would consider slapping an export ban on Thai seafood if the problem was not tackled satisfactorily.

Coastal fishermen said their fishing method did not hurt fish stocks and the environment as some people claimed.

Pradit said the group wanted fair treatment as club members had been badly hurt by the government's measures.

'Government has banned our nets'

"Please stop hurting us by distorting facts. The government has recently banned the use of oun roon nets as part of its campaign to satisfy the EU demand. We are now broke, whereas we have fixed expenditure," he said.

"So the government has to consider remedies and compensation for us. It's not our fault. As of now, the government should postpone enforcement of the new rules and regulations."

Rien Hong-koo, 73, a former vice president of the Samut Sakhon Fishermen's Association, said he had been a fisherman since childhood and the oun roon nets were environmentally friendly because they were mainly used by small vessels not capable of significantly depleting fish stocks.

Meanwhile, Pol General Aek Angsananont, deputy national police chief, said police in 22 coastal provinces were helping local authorities enforce the port-in, port-out requirement, one of the measures to comply with the EU demand.

Commander Suebsan Rien-roo, head of the PIPO centre in Rayong, said the centre was responsible for regulating 30-gross-tonne or larger fishing vessels, which were required to be registered and licensed to fish legally.

Their fishing equipment and personnel also need to be registered while every port departure and their return has to be reported 24 hours in advance in official forms submitted to the PIPO centre.

Since opening on May 6, 238 fishing vessels had filed PIPO forms with the centre, Suebsan said, adding that the figure for July 1 to yesterday was 174 vessels.

He said Rayong had 285 30-gross-tonne and larger vessels registered with authorities.

Aek said the Navy commander-in-chief was directly responsible for enforcing the PIPO requirement while police would support the operation by providing personnel at 28 PIPO centres in 22 provinces with each centre staffed by 20 policemen who would also enforce laws on the use of illegal larbour in the fishing industry.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Angry-fishermen-call-for-rules-delay-30264786.html


-- The Nation 2015-07-20

[carstenp]

From this article, I'm not sure the long term regulation is able to be handled proper.

I feel sad for Thailand , cause more and more I see the ban coming.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

They will keep on fishing until there is nothing left in the seas and when that day comes they will blame someone else for the empty seas.

[NongKhaiKid]

They will keep on fishing until there is nothing left in the seas and when that day comes they will blame someone else for the empty seas.

C'mon PM give into their demands again and then when the EU enforces the ban ... ?

[cooked]

The EU is totally overfishing waters in its area. Britain's fishing fleet, once the largest in the world, has been decimated over the last 50 years and certain fish species are verging on extinction.

I have no respect for anything that is dictated by EU bureaucrats.

However nobody in the UK threatened to blockade ports or menaced legal boat owners. I have no sympathy at all for Thai boat owners that have invested in expensive equipment that potentially can destroy fish stocks in the Gulf of Thailand. Sea food is going to get more expensive either way.

[lujanit]

The Thai attitude of "I am entitled to make a living regardless of the law" rears it's ugly head again. A lot of street, pseudo black taxi drivers and beach vendors (jet skies, beach chairs, food outlets) think the same. Walk down soi 11 and see the abuse of law, albeit with suitable payment to the 'relevant' paymasters. Money is God here, forget about Buddha's teachings it has no meaning in Thailand.

[selftaopath]

The Thai attitude of "I am entitled to make a living regardless of the law" rears it's ugly head again. A lot of street, pseudo black taxi drivers and beach vendors (jet skies, beach chairs, food outlets) think the same. Walk down soi 11 and see the abuse of law, albeit with suitable payment to the 'relevant' paymasters. Money is God here, forget about Buddha's teachings it has no meaning in Thailand.

YES! Doesn't the world know Thais are ENTITLED to anything and everything? This also means driving w/out license, going any direction regardless of flow of traffic etc.... I'm under the impression Thais think the WORLD needs to do what Thais dictate.... guess b/c they have Thainess and know best/everything.... well except adequate education/know how. :-)

[Crazy chef 1]

Seafood is getting more expensive???

Who cares the quality is anyway substandard...

[cooked]

The Thai attitude of "I am entitled to make a living regardless of the law" rears it's ugly head again. A lot of street, pseudo black taxi drivers and beach vendors (jet skies, beach chairs, food outlets) think the same. Walk down soi 11 and see the abuse of law, albeit with suitable payment to the 'relevant' paymasters. Money is God here, forget about Buddha's teachings it has no meaning in Thailand.

That's a bit simplistic, laws are not enforced for years and then suddenly are applied, leaving people without a livelihood. Thais don't do prevention.

[Yunla]

This is such a huge and difficult subject, not only here but in traditional fishing communities around the world. The sea is such a finely balanced system, overfishing could only last so long in such a finely-tuned natural environment, and due to the nature of the species the system can not re-balance itself. There are no 'bail-outs' or 'too-big-to-fail' in the natural world, it is balance or extinction.

And on the other side we have communities that can either be compensated short-term, or re-trained in new onshore trade-skills. And that in itself is a huge problem, fishing communities are ancestral, and the sea is their primary nature, taking the boat out is not even second-nature to them. This is so different to city communities, who can be re-trained in new trade-skills at the drop of a hat. Retraining somebody who has known nothing but the sea, and has ancestral bonds with fishing that date back longer than we can even chart, is a serious challenge. We had similiar situations in fishing villages in northern Europe, when the mega-trawlers and drift-nets became dominant, all the people in the small fishing villages were forced to re-train in new onshore trades, and there was so much bitterness at the loss of their ancestral family skills.

So there are many issues at play in this OP snapshot, EU laws etc. but the core problem is global and related to industrial fishing, which is by its very nature unsustainable, and the great harm caused to the legitimate ancestral fishing-communities in every part of the world.

[trogers]

Seafood is getting more expensive???

Who cares the quality is anyway substandard...

Formalin comes to mind.

[ramrod711]

"So the government has to consider remedies and compensation for us. It's not our fault. As of now, the government should postpone enforcement of the new rules and regulations."

The national motto, "the government should compensate us". How dare foreigners apply their standards to us, we will flush our sewage directly into the sea, dump our garbage anywhere and everywhere, thus polluting our own groundwater and the ocean that feeds us. This is our heritage and our right, all foreigners should come spend money, but don't stay too long and don't criticize.

[aussieinthailand]

It is what it is, Thailand has to comply with the rules or face a EU ban, simple as that, The problem is that boat owners have been exploiting the situation for so long that they feel they are entitled to do as they please, those days are over guy's now so stop bit__ing and get on with it or find another job.

Considering the money generated by the seafood industry one would think it is well overdue for SERIOUS regulations to have a sustainable industry for years to come rather than the take everything regardless attitude such as undersize catch, and limits.

[rametindallas]

The Thai attitude of "I am entitled to make a living regardless of the law" rears it's ugly head again. A lot of street, pseudo black taxi drivers and beach vendors (jet skies, beach chairs, food outlets) think the same. Walk down soi 11 and see the abuse of law, albeit with suitable payment to the 'relevant' paymasters. Money is God here, forget about Buddha's teachings it has no meaning in Thailand.

That's a bit simplistic, laws are not enforced for years and then suddenly are applied, leaving people without a livelihood. Thais don't do prevention.

Illegal fishermen are low-life scum of the Earth who only exploit and never invest in building the fish stocks. The know the damage they do but don't care. They do not 'husband', they 'rape'. Selfish bastards.

Let's do some comparison between farmers and fishermen:

Their equipment and labor costs are nearly the same but farmers have to lease or buy the land they farm on and generally can't use slave labor. Fishermen pay nothing to use the ocean and often use slave labor because no one can see them and the seas are the most lawless place on the planet.

Farmers have to nurture the soil and plant seeds. Fishermen just go out and take what they want with zero investment in nurturing the seas or replenishing stocks.

Farmers are dependent on good weather and are restricted to seasons. Fishermen can fish is nearly all weather that Thai waters have. Fishermen go out and rape the seas all year round.

If farmers attempt to use their soil too much, they will get low yields. Fishermen just find another spot in the ocean that hasn't been raped yet; even it it's in another country's waters.

I have zero pity for any fishermen who use illegal nets, use slave labor, practice inshore trawling, refuse to keep records, and refuse to be monitored or tracked. Six months is enough time to change if they hadn't procrastinated so long, hoping for a government reprieve. Unfortunately for them, it's not the Thai government's call this time and the EU will help its own fishermen by banning Thai fish imports.

"The EU has given Thai, the world’s third-largest seafood exporter, six months to crack down on illegal fishing or face a trade ban on its fish imports. South Korea and the Philippines though have escaped the commission’s net after bringing in legal reforms and improved control and inspection systems. “There are no controls whatsoever and no efforts being made whatsoever and illegal fishing is almost totally allowed (in Thailand).” Thailand’s global fish exports were valued at €7bn in 2013. Last year, €642m of that catch was destined for European dishes. In Thailand, up to 39% of wild-caught seafood entering the US market last year is estimated to have been unlawfully caught." http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/21/eu-threatens-thailand-with-trade-ban-over-illegal-fishing

Speaking for myself, I'm done caring about these outlaws. I hope the US red -cards them, also.

.

Edited July 20, 2015 by rametindallas

[chasntong]

Put the ban on to wake them up, then they will be broke.

[magnacarta]

This article is a load of Cod's Wallop

[carstenp]

Put the ban on to wake them up, then they will be broke.

I must say I disagree with you. I understand what your are writing, but if you really want to harm and teach this people, this it not the way to do it.

Let's say Eu and U.S. Ban them. What will happen. First there properly will be big demonstrations and a lot of families will loose income. Fair enough , now we can point or fingers at them and say. Now you can learn. But do you really think they will accept that.

This is not going to happen, in my opinion. There will always be other markeds, as they talk about for some weeks ago. They want the marked to fine other places to export to. Right now the care, but on the long term the don't care, and it will be to hard to control. I fear the eu and U.S. Is going to ban them, and that is sad, mostly because the fisherman don't see the big perspective of the problem, even the government is trying to explain it.

[SOTIRIOS]

........'so-called illegal'......

...not according to the criminals.....

...of course not....

[Laughing Gravy]

The Mai Bpen Rai attitude is going to bite the fishermen and Thailand on the backside. It is not as though you have not been told about this for ages. You were asked to clean your act up and choose firstly to deny the situation and now you are crying as you haven't enough time. Grow up and start taking responsibility for your actions.

[Saan]

The EU is totally overfishing waters in its area. Britain's fishing fleet, once the largest in the world, has been decimated over the last 50 years and certain fish species are verging on extinction.

I have no respect for anything that is dictated by EU bureaucrats.

However nobody in the UK threatened to blockade ports or menaced legal boat owners. I have no sympathy at all for Thai boat owners that have invested in expensive equipment that potentially can destroy fish stocks in the Gulf of Thailand. Sea food is going to get more expensive either way.

I feel sorry for them. Fishing has been their livelihood, in many cases, for generations.

In Australia to reduce the risk of depleting stocks the fishing licences were brought back by the government giving the fishermen some fallback and the fish some respite.

[DM07]

" When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught, and the last river is polluted; when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank accounts and that you can’t eat money."

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

I feel sorry for the small local fisherman as they are not the main culprit in over fishing. The best thing for the enviroment will be an EU ban, but it will be the worst thing for the fishermen.

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

I feel sorry for the small local fisherman as they are not the main culprit in over fishing. The best thing for the enviroment will be an EU ban, but it will be the worst thing for the fishermen.

I think a EU ban will be very good for the local small scale fisherman as he is not exporting his catch to EU, most of it end up at the local market. And the small scale fisherman is not the one using Burmese slaves on his boat. Most of the small scale fisherman wants the big trawlers banned from their waters as they destroys the bottoms with their trawl nets.

[skildpadden]

Well if you don't comply with the EU rules, you will be faced with a ban. The threat of the ban It is not new but now it is being potentially enforced.

You can of course continue as before, but your selfish behavior will also affect the legal fishermen who invested in the proper tools and training to comply with the rules. Will the illegal fishermen help to compensate them for getting a EU ban despite being honest? I don't think so as this protest is based on a self-centered worldview without regards for the environment or your honest colleagues.

[Oziex1]

So they have some rules in place and nobody knows what to do. The fisherman wan't to keep fishing and according to a recent report the authorities allow them.

Same old.

[sawadee1947]

If they wait some weeks more to follow international rules they can eat their stinking fish by themselves, then the door will be shut for exporting fish to EU.

They are too stupid to realize that they saw off the branch on which they sit

[diehard60]

Yep more people do not like the rules and regulations. Typical of Thailand. Not just if the fishing industry but in every industry.

[alfalfa19]

oh, boo hoo. let's get angry and throw a tantrum, surely we'll get our way. after all, it works for taxi and tuk tuk drivers.

[somo]

This article is a load of Cod's Wallop

And full of red herrings!

[bongoz]

This is such a huge and difficult subject, not only here but in traditional fishing communities around the world. The sea is such a finely balanced system, overfishing could only last so long in such a finely-tuned natural environment, and due to the nature of the species the system can not re-balance itself. There are no 'bail-outs' or 'too-big-to-fail' in the natural world, it is balance or extinction.

And on the other side we have communities that can either be compensated short-term, or re-trained in new onshore trade-skills. And that in itself is a huge problem, fishing communities are ancestral, and the sea is their primary nature, taking the boat out is not even second-nature to them. This is so different to city communities, who can be re-trained in new trade-skills at the drop of a hat. Retraining somebody who has known nothing but the sea, and has ancestral bonds with fishing that date back longer than we can even chart, is a serious challenge. We had similiar situations in fishing villages in northern Europe, when the mega-trawlers and drift-nets became dominant, all the people in the small fishing villages were forced to re-train in new onshore trades, and there was so much bitterness at the loss of their ancestral family skills.

So there are many issues at play in this OP snapshot, EU laws etc. but the core problem is global and related to industrial fishing, which is by its very nature unsustainable, and the great harm caused to the legitimate ancestral fishing-communities in every part of the world.

What about captive breeding of seafood

The demand is there, it's sustainable and they are still 'on the water'.

Reality is its probably too hard for Thai's and Thailand as they would have to compete with the rest of the world

Edited July 20, 2015 by bongoz