Thai Police Bust Multi-Million Baht Sex Toy Smuggling Ring

[Lite Beer]

EDITORIAL
Govt needs a better grasp of fishing sector's woes
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- PM should take a step back and focus on how conditions can be improved for workers and the oceans allowed to recover

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha came out with another characteristic outburst, which was perhaps predictable, if not embarrassing. Instead of running the country through sound policies and judgement, the junta chief seems to rely on his emotions to shape the course and direction of this administration.

The latest bout of anger was his lashing out at a proposal from a member of a European parliamentary committee, on whether to "red card" Thailand for illegal fishing practices.

Gabriel Mato, from the European Parliament's committee on fisheries, said he would support banning the import of Thai fishery products, if the Kingdom failed to curb illegal fishing and abandon the use of slave labour.

This stirred Prayut to hit back, saying his government had taken more action than many other countries.

"Today we are sincere about addressing the problem that many countries have not tried to solve. Why haven't they been [punished]?" he asked.

Prayut can keep pointing an accusing finger at others but he can't get around the fact that, at the end of the day, this is a Thai problem.

In April, the European Commission gave Thailand a "yellow card", warning that authorities must improve conditions in the fishery industry, which exports its products mainly to Europe. Thailand was given six months to solve the problems.

"Thailand is a party to United Nations conventions and also has an agreement with the EU. We are sincere in addressing the issue," the PM said.

No one doubts Prayut's sincerity. But questions are understandably being raised on whether his judgement is clouded.

He can keep harping about how hard the bureaucrats have been working to resolve this problem and that there has to be some sympathy and moral support for them.

Perhaps they should try being in the fishermen's shoes for a day. It might be a good training session for the bureaucrats - a day or two working in this back-breaking industry, which employs a great number of foreign hands as Thai people shun these kind of jobs. It might educate them on the conditions they endure.

Thais can get better work elsewhere, like Taiwan, so why would they slog in the fisheries sector where working conditions have been likened to slavery.

Prayut was also furious with the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) for its comments earlier on the poor living and working conditions of fishery workers.

"I agree that the NHRC has to protect individuals, but it should look after everyone - be they abused or not. Also, officials should be treated with fairness. Instead, the NHRC has created misunderstanding in the country. Is creating conflict good for the country?" Prayut said.

Rights commissioners must think about humanity, international society and the country while exercising their duty, he said.

But the NHRC was talking about humanity, about a sense of fair play when they brought up the issue of working conditions.

From the perspective of the EU, it is one of our most important customers but they have specific requirements for their procurement of fish from Thailand and elsewhere.

The first key consideration is environmental degradation, which is basically centred on the type of equipment used and whether these nets or other equipment destroy marine life and underwater habitats.

The second is the issue of forced labour. When it comes to fisheries in Thailand, the issue of forced and illegal labour, or slaves, cannot be ignored. Moreover, one cannot ignore the issue of human rights and criminality, such as recent reports about rape on fishing boats.

The government focuses too much on technicality and regulation, such as registration, but virtually nothing on the working conditions and related humanitarian concerns.

If it focused more on the industry and humanitarian principles, we would think more about a sense of fair play - or the lack of it, in this industry.

We need to ask ourselves not just about migrants' working conditions but also the environment in which they spend their free time.

We need to ask about their children and where they go to school and what kind of education, if any, they are getting.

The government can boast all it likes about how many people it arrests as part of measures to clean up the industry. But it needs to understand that when our customers, like the EU, do their report, they take a bird's-eye view of these problems.

And if we can't do that, or we are not willing to take up these challenges, we deserve the red card that the EU parliament has suggested.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Govt-needs-a-better-grasp-of-fishing-sectors-woes-30265238.html

-- The Nation 2015-07-26

[jonnyscot]

You can't take a country like thailand and make the working conditions the same as is now in European fishing vessels,, sat tv, air conditioning etc etc,,, some hotels here don't have that,,,

For me the Thais are addressing the correct problems, trouble is in my view they don't have much experience in choosing the most effective measures to take to reduce overfishing. I'm not sure whether there is a working fishery research program with working fishery research vessels to monitor stocks and trial conservation measures as there is in many other countries

[PatOngo]

What they really need is a grasp on reality.............but that's wishful thinking!

[lovelomsak]

The quickest way to get things under control is when an illegal boat is found fishing ,take all the workers off the boat and sink the boat at sea. No boat no problem.

[noitom]

Thais do in fact deserve a red card.

[BuckBee]

Problem was Prayut backed down & let boats back out fishing for 2 extra months.

Best thing he can do is sell his fish to the chinese & russians as he simply not got the gumption or clout to resolve real problems.

Edited July 26, 2015 by BuckBee

[FritsSikkink]

The quickest way to get things under control is when an illegal boat is found fishing ,take all the workers off the boat and sink the boat at sea. No boat no problem.

only shitloads of poor people without a paycheck, but who cares

[willyumiii]

The quickest way to get things under control is when an illegal boat is found fishing ,take all the workers off the boat and sink the boat at sea. No boat no problem.

only shitloads of poor people without a paycheck, but who cares

Slaves get no paycheck.

Do you care?

[bangkokfrog]

It was also interesting to see a report recently about some unlicensed Andaman Sea fishing boats being "sold" to Burmese buyers. I suspect that if the money is followed it will be a round robin, with the same owners and captains offloading catches onto mother ships that sell to Thai fisheries.

[FritsSikkink]

The quickest way to get things under control is when an illegal boat is found fishing ,take all the workers off the boat and sink the boat at sea. No boat no problem.

only shitloads of poor people without a paycheck, but who cares

Slaves get no paycheck.

Do you care?

if you think that all the workers on the 3000 illegal fishing boats are slaves or foreigners, think again. i do care as i know a lot of normal Thai people who work long hours to try to make a living.

[MZurf]

"Prayut was also furious with the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) for its comments earlier on the poor living and working conditions of fishery workers.

"I agree that the NHRC has to protect individuals, but it should look after everyone - be they abused or not. Also, officials should be treated with fairness. Instead, the NHRC has created misunderstanding in the country. Is creating conflict good for the country?" Prayut said.

Human rights commission concerned about human rights?? The temerity!

Unfortunately it's obvious that Uncle Too's solution to many of Thailand's problems is this..

[Thian]

How many EU-oiltankers sail under the EU-flag? They all use Malta or Panama or whatever lowtax country to register their ships.

Well then the Thai boats can also change flag.

[zaphod reborn]

You can't take a country like thailand and make the working conditions the same as is now in European fishing vessels,, sat tv, air conditioning etc etc,,, some hotels here don't have that,,,

For me the Thais are addressing the correct problems, trouble is in my view they don't have much experience in choosing the most effective measures to take to reduce overfishing. I'm not sure whether there is a working fishery research program with working fishery research vessels to monitor stocks and trial conservation measures as there is in many other countries

Exactly, and bottom line is that the EU is just trying to protect its own fishing industry. EU fishing boats have much higher operating costs because they have to comply with socialist over-regulation of their industry. They can't compete on an even playing field with cheap Thai fish imports, so they threaten a ban of Thai imports if the Thai government won't impose the same standards. The EU is doing this in a number of industries and hopefully we'll see more nations exiting the socialist behemoth shortly.

[Bluespunk]

If Thailand doesn't like the EU's environmentally logical and sustainable policies towards fishing then find new markets.

Then when the stocks finally collapse (and if no changes are made they will) at least they, like Frank Sinatra, will know they did it their way.

Edited July 26, 2015 by Bluespunk

[Bluespunk]

"I agree that the NHRC has to protect individuals, but it should look after everyone - be they abused or not. Also, officials should be treated with fairness. Instead, the NHRC has created misunderstanding in the country. Is creating conflict good for the country?" Prayut said."

Exposing the truth is not creating conflict, rather it is showing where change is required if conflict is to be avoided.

[scorecard]

You can't take a country like thailand and make the working conditions the same as is now in European fishing vessels,, sat tv, air conditioning etc etc,,, some hotels here don't have that,,,

For me the Thais are addressing the correct problems, trouble is in my view they don't have much experience in choosing the most effective measures to take to reduce overfishing. I'm not sure whether there is a working fishery research program with working fishery research vessels to monitor stocks and trial conservation measures as there is in many other countries

Good points. Let's not forget that these problems have existed for several decades and no previous governments (all colours) have made any attempt to get this industry into some level of international and logical structure and ethics, etc etc.

The only rule in the past was 'make money' regardless.

[English_M_in_Bkk]

You can't take a country like thailand and make the working conditions the same as is now in European fishing vessels,, sat tv, air conditioning etc etc,,, some hotels here don't have that,,,

For me the Thais are addressing the correct problems, trouble is in my view they don't have much experience in choosing the most effective measures to take to reduce overfishing. I'm not sure whether there is a working fishery research program with working fishery research vessels to monitor stocks and trial conservation measures as there is in many other countries

Exactly, and bottom line is that the EU is just trying to protect its own fishing industry. EU fishing boats have much higher operating costs because they have to comply with socialist over-regulation of their industry. They can't compete on an even playing field with cheap Thai fish imports, so they threaten a ban of Thai imports if the Thai government won't impose the same standards. The EU is doing this in a number of industries and hopefully we'll see more nations exiting the socialist behemoth shortly.

Oh my lord, you actually think the EU is socialist?

Yeah, damn people who actually try to make good conditions for workers, if we didn't have good conditions it would just be like the Thai fishing industry... oh wait hang on....

[seajae]

what a crap article, maybe the writer should actually spend a day in their shoes instead of simply trying to make up a bullsh*t article. Yes the slave trade must end but seriously, he thinks that not abiding by the laws and being registered or holding licences is not important, what a moron, he is simply an apologist for the big owners of the boats concerned. All boats need to be made to have the appropriate licences, registration and using the approved practices otherwise nothing will improve, same as the current use of the illegal nets. These idiots simply decimate the ocean for profit, they dont care about sustainable resources or the future as long as they are making money, time for the moron that wrote this to pull his head out of his ar*e and realize that being thai does not entitle people to do as they please to make a profit or to follow the legal practices approved for what they do. Maybe if the writer actually studied this instead of making it all up to suit the agenda he is after he would realize the biggest problem are the owners that avoid doing the right thing at all costs, until they are made to toe the line it will not improve.

[Thai at Heart]

It's quite humorous watching the squirm like a kid who hasn't done his homework

[deckape]

The first key consideration is environmental degradation

The second is the issue of forced labour.

Perhaps is the author followed his own advice and lived in a slaves' shoes for a year or three he would change his tune.

Developing ideas and thoughts through reasoning and explanation is very different than just spewing blah blah blah. The hub of lazy journalism.

[Down the rabbit hole]

Thais do in fact deserve a red card.

I think it was Samuel Johnson who said that nothing focuses the mind like a good hanging. An old Thai proverb recommends killing a chicken to scare the monkeys.

There are a lot of other monkeys who need scaring, giving Thailand a red card would be satisfying because they are incompetent and arrogant and deserve it, and it would scare the other monkeys admirably, by causing them to contemplate a good hanging.

Fingers crossed...

[BirdsandBooze]

You can't take a country like thailand and make the working conditions the same as is now in European fishing vessels,, sat tv, air conditioning etc etc,,, some hotels here don't have that,,,

For me the Thais are addressing the correct problems, trouble is in my view they don't have much experience in choosing the most effective measures to take to reduce overfishing. I'm not sure whether there is a working fishery research program with working fishery research vessels to monitor stocks and trial conservation measures as there is in many other countries

Exactly, and bottom line is that the EU is just trying to protect its own fishing industry. EU fishing boats have much higher operating costs because they have to comply with socialist over-regulation of their industry. They can't compete on an even playing field with cheap Thai fish imports, so they threaten a ban of Thai imports if the Thai government won't impose the same standards. The EU is doing this in a number of industries and hopefully we'll see more nations exiting the socialist behemoth shortly.

Different species, different customers.

[weegee]

How many EU-oiltankers sail under the EU-flag? They all use Malta or Panama or whatever lowtax country to register their ships.

Well then the Thai boats can also change flag.

Changing their Flag of Registry, can also mean it is illegal for them to fish in Thailand waters....or any other Asian country that wont allow it...

[Thian]

How many EU-oiltankers sail under the EU-flag? They all use Malta or Panama or whatever lowtax country to register their ships.

Well then the Thai boats can also change flag.

Changing their Flag of Registry, can also mean it is illegal for them to fish in Thailand waters....or any other Asian country that wont allow it...

A brown envelope can fix that problem.

But speaking about safety rules, those Alaska crabfishermen from Discovery channel also don't follow the EU rules. They have to wear a helmet when working with cranes, hard nose safetyshoes, can't work around the clock 24 hrs, need a certification how to operate the machinery used.

If the deck on their boats is too slippery then they will have to change that and many more rules we have in the EU.

But i hope that if Thailand gets banned the seafood in BKK will get a lot cheaper, prices are extreme now and they all try to cheat me on top of that.

[jonnyscot]

Can't work around the clock nowadays?,,,, jeez, I really have been away from the scottish fishing industry a long long time, I remember sometimes having less than 10 hours sleep, and that was for a weeks fishing

[MaiChai]

Only address the problem when there is a big stick. Take away the stick and its mai pen rai.

[casualbiker]

Gabriel Mato of Spain.. Possibly Europe's largest fishing fleet for size and catch.. Heavily subsidised!

http://www.icij.org/project/looting-seas-ii/nearly-eu6-billion-subsidies-fuel-spains-ravenous-fleet

Or taking illegal catches.. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/spanish-fish-barons-admit-taking-illegal-catches-in-uk-waters-7964246.html

Edited July 26, 2015 by casualbiker

[jonnyscot]

Gabriel Mato of Spain.. Possibly Europe's largest fishing fleet for size and catch.. Heavily subsidised!

http://www.icij.org/project/looting-seas-ii/nearly-eu6-billion-subsidies-fuel-spains-ravenous-fleet

Or taking illegal catches.. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/spanish-fish-barons-admit-taking-illegal-catches-in-uk-waters-7964246.html

And has been goin on for many years, as I said earlier either in this topic or the other fishing related one, the euro's aren't squeaky clean, illegal fishing still goes on there because it is very difficult to properly control, they're monitoring fish factory records , increased mesh sizes, put escape windows in nets, to help reduce overfishing and allow young fish to escape, but only works properly if every country complies,, certainly too much to expect thailand to do in 6 months

[englishoak]

Gabriel Mato of Spain.. Possibly Europe's largest fishing fleet for size and catch.. Heavily subsidised!

http://www.icij.org/project/looting-seas-ii/nearly-eu6-billion-subsidies-fuel-spains-ravenous-fleet

Or taking illegal catches.. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/spanish-fish-barons-admit-taking-illegal-catches-in-uk-waters-7964246.html

And has been goin on for many years, as I said earlier either in this topic or the other fishing related one, the euro's aren't squeaky clean, illegal fishing still goes on there because it is very difficult to properly control, they're monitoring fish factory records , increased mesh sizes, put escape windows in nets, to help reduce overfishing and allow young fish to escape, but only works properly if every country complies,, certainly too much to expect thailand to do in 6 months

Its had years and enough warnings. They will never be ready until made to be... if they dont like it then go sell to another market no problem.

[BuckBee]

Simple fact is thais don't like hard work when can cheat/lie .

Red card & sanctions were needed long ago & not just on fishing .