Department of Fisheries to accelerate efforts to tackle illegal fishing after EU yellow card

[webfact]

Department of Fisheries to accelerate efforts to tackle illegal fishing after EU yellow card

BANGKOK, 26 May 2016 (NNT) - The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is accelerating its efforts to tackle the issue of illegal fishing after the European Union’s yellow card issuance on the Thai fishing industry.

Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Gen Chatchai Sarikalya revealed that the Department of Fisheries is proceeding with its effort to tackle Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in accordance to international standards and according to recommendations by the EU.

Meanwhile, the Department will also accelerate its installation of vessel tracking systems, and decommission illegal ships. Officials were also sent to the European in the middle of this month to receive suggestions on how to best tackle the issue. After the officials return, a meeting will be held the following week to summarize the recommendations.

The Minister of Agriculture also revealed that the EU has affirmed it will not extend its deadline for another assessment, and is currently maintaining its yellow card status for the Thai fishing industry.


-- NNT 2016-05-26

[Reigntax]

Shouldnt that read

Dept of Fisheries accelerates outflow of propaganda to ward of EU red card.

[Boatfreak]

Check on http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:101/centery:13/zoom:9 www.marinetraffic.com and filter on fishing vessels, there is only one fishing vessel in the entire Gulf of Thailand so I expect the Fish stock to replenish exponentially in the coming years.

[arrowsdawdle]

Accelerate.... checking the Thai dictionary, aha.... it means less pressure on the brake.

[Winniedapu]

Ah, Starting to panic now. Look for a tsunami of irrelevant and untrue press releases between now and July.

Popcorn at the ready, let the show begin!

Winnie

[gandalf12]

Does "accelerate" translate as waking up?

[SOTIRIOS]

....oh please.....

...the first step is admitting they have a problem....which they never have...

[mtls2005]

Sounds like a headline from yesteryear.

[trainman34014]

Accelerate the talk....that's all they ever do !

[Bob12345]

"the EU has affirmed it will not extend its deadline for another assessment"

It would be a strange threat if you say "fix this in 6 months or we will extend the deadline".

So i take it with a grain of salt: when push comes to shove the EU will do whatever serves their own interests best including extending the deadline many more times.

[Plutojames88]

The funny thing about people whose ancestors didn't survive a European ice age is their logic.

To them the Thais key words like ""Accelerate"" and ""Efforts"" suffice to their thinking when they pitch.

"" Tackle"" is a word they use to neatly parcel it all up with.

The sentence gives the feel of responsible on going action being taken at a rapid rate of knots.

The reality is to the European mind a Time thing.

Urgency is part of our DNA code book.

We survive because we found fire.

We hunted the animal before the weather set in.

We sheltered.

The delay tactics might work in Asia .

But it's time frames are more substantial .

Thailand does have time.

The EU could issue words like "" unresponsive "" ..and "" non compliant "" and "" delaying"" in their descriptions .

It would be more true.

The simple plain facts are that a year has passed and the media and propaganda do little to appease the relations of victims .

Thailand has like the recent volley ball game a set of rules.

It must observe comply or receive punishments.

Winnie notes that he expects a lot of propaganda to flow soon.

I suspect he is right.

The Thais seem in the elite classes very sensitive to penalties let alone even criticism .

Even though to get on tier 3 you have to be extremely bad.

Eg death camps - slaves- beatings - crew behind bars - some tortured.

Thailand is now saying they are racing to fix things in a big heart felt way.

When reality is they are not doing enough.

The next few weeks might result in further confrontation.

And the media spin won't save their face.

Applying sanctions could be the most justified measure taken.

But that's a matter for them to decide.

Not Generals who thump desks

[lvr181]

Yet again!?

Reminds me of the old saying: "None so blind as those who do NOT want to see".

[Peung]

For all you cynics out there who think the Royal Thai Government is doing nothing to improve the fishing industry....

Press Release

Ranong Provincial Court accepting to review the case filed by the public prosecutor for trafficking in person and other criminal offences while dismissing request to be co-plaintiff on the trafficking offence lodged by legal representative of Cambodian migrant workers

On 11 May 2016, the Ranong public prosecutor indicted the case against Mr. Ruangchai Pewngam with the Ranong Provincial Court. The defendant was accused of collaborating with Mr. Somchai Jettanapornsamran and other two accomplices who remain at large to commit trafficking in person offences since November 2014 until 22 January 2016.

1. They had allegedly lured 11 workers from Cambodia to enter Thailand promising to place them in an onshore factory for fish screening and fish head cutting, not in fishing trawler. Instead, the defendant and other accomplices have forced the 11 damaged parties to stay and work in a fishing trawler named “K. Nava Mongkhon Chai 1”. They were forced to work as crew in the fishing boat which had gone outside the Thai waters to fish in international waters. It was the labour exploitation against the 11 damaged parties.

2. The defendant and other two accomplices committed human trafficking by forced labour, depriving them of liberty in their body and withholding their passports to prevent them from escaping. It had also inflicted fear for harm on the life, body and liberty and as a result the damaged parties were forced to work in the fishing boat. The defendant and other accomplices have taken them on board the fishing boat which operated in Thai and international waters successively for a long time and it was an illegal act of exploitation.

The incidence took place in Pak Nam Sub-District, Muang District, Ranong Pronvince. Pak Nam Sub-District, Muang District, Samut Sakhon Province, Satrung Myanjoy Sub-District, Jumdongka District, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, waters under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Indonesia, Thai waters and international waters, successively. The public prosecutor has pleaded the Court to convict them for offences concerning the 2008 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, the Penal Code, and the 1983 Act for the Amendment of the Penal Code No.13’s Section 3. The Ranong Provincial Court accepted to review the case as the Black Case no. KM 2/2559.

The legal representative of the damaged parties had also pleaded to the Court asking to be co-plaintiff. While, the Court accepted the plea and allowed them to be co-plaintiffs for offences against the Penal Code, it has dismissed the plea to become co-plaintiffs on offences against the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act citing it as a public offence.

On 10 May 2016, the public prosecutor has asked the Court to have the witness examination conducted before the schedule since the witnesses who are survivors of trafficking in person have their residences outside the Kingdom and have no permanent residences here. The Court permitted as requested and the witness examination was conducted on 12 and 26 May 2016. The Court is scheduled to review evidence on 6 June 2016.

Background

On 21 January 2016, police officials led by the Commander of Ranong Provincial Police, the Commander of Infantry Taskforce 25, Thep Kasat Tree Force and other security agencies have raided three fishing boats and inspected the living condition of Cambodian migrant workers on board. The boats had gone to fish in Indonesian waters and had just returned and parked at a private jetty in Pak Nam Sub-District, Muang District, Ranong. Led by the lead that two of the three boats exploited forced labour including

1. the K. Nava Mongkhon Chai 8 (the case of which was indicted with the Ranong Provincial Court against Mr. Banjob Kaenkaew on 21 April 2016 as the Black Case no. KM1/2559, the offences against the 2008 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and the Penal Code with four Cambodian crew as damaged parties) and

2. The K. Nava Mongkhon Chai 1. After the inspection and rescue, the crew have undergone screening process and 11 survivors of trafficking in persons were identified in K. Nava Mongkhon Chai 1, all of whom have been living under the care of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. Prior to the indictment, the Ranong public prosecutor has filed a request to the Court asking to have advance witness examination conducted including the examination of the 11 survivors of trafficking in person.

[Bob12345]

For all you cynics out there who think the Royal Thai Government is doing nothing to improve the fishing industry....

It is not that they are "doing nothing", it is that they are "not doing enough".

[willyumiii]

Is a deadline really a deadline if you extend it?

I don't think so.

[Chris Lawrence]

Prosecute the badies! But the badies are the goodies in this story or the ones holding the strings in the fishing industry. I wonder who felt good about this story going out?