Two Thai tuna vessels in violation of IUU fishing apprehended by Navy off Phuket

Eakkapop Thongtub

PHUKET: The Royal Thai Navy Area Three Command has apprehended two illegal Thai fishing vessels off Phuket, whose captains failed to comply with new tracking protocol aimed at curbing illegal, unreported and unregistered (IUU) fishing.

The RTN promptly pursued the two tuna fishing boats today (January 30) after their respective captains failed to comply with Port-In,Port-Out (PIPO) reporting protocol as stipulated by the the new Vessel Monitoring System (VMS).

The VMS tracking and reporting requirements are part of the Thai government’s latest efforts to crack down on IUU fishing practices, which has tainted Thailand's human trafficking and seafood export market record.

The two vessels, which failed to report to one of Phuket’s six PIPO centres, were named as Mook Andaman 018 and Mook Andaman 028, and were initially tracked to a spot about 700 nautical miles from Phuket, before their signals were lost, prompting the Royal Thai Navy to send out sea and air patrols.

Full story: http://www.thephuketnews.com/two-thai-tuna-vessels-in-violation-of-iuu-fishing-apprehended-by-navy-off-phuket-56003.php

-- Phuket News 2016-01-31

....but they said.......

75 nautical miles not 700

Guess things are being done.. looks like enforcement to me.

Strange. Of the 55 crew members on board there did not appear to be one Thai national. Only 2 Burmese the rest coming from around all of Asia. And there are supposed to be Thai boats? Something fishy here (pun intended).

Strange. Of the 55 crew members on board there did not appear to be one Thai national. Only 2 Burmese the rest coming from around all of Asia. And there are supposed to be Thai boats? Something fishy here (pun intended).

Not really, they are Thai registered. It does not really mean the crew is Thai. Many European boats have only a few Europeans and loads of Asians as a crew. This has been going on for decades.

good work Thailand.

in the USA, Starkist sells "dolphin safe" tuna. We all love dolphins and don't want them to die, but i hope you see the humor in that.

Starkist introduces "human slave safe" tuna.

except its not really funny...

Thai registered vessels operating out of Thai ports but captained by Chinese............can you get a work permit to be a fishing boat captain as a foreign national? Is it even needed?

A sudden rash of violators being caught…what does it mean? Is it window dressing for EU or has there actually been a change of heart and a decision at the top that slavery is a practice that has outlived its usefulness?

how boring....does anybody expect there would be an end with illegal fishing..? Hey, we are in Thailand, guys....

Guess things are being done.. looks like enforcement to me.

I wonder if they checked the menu and if any vitamin B was on board let alone food, or illegal workers.

....but they said.......

...But they didn't say slave labor. They keep using disinformation strategies to hide the facts under "illegal fishing" instead of facts and transparency.

Looking at the state of that vessel,I would not want to go very far from land,

can you imagine the state of conditions below decks.

regards worgeordie