Agriculture dismisses rumour of red card ruling on Thai fisheries by EU



BANGKOK: -- Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister yesterday denied rumors that the country’s fisheries industry would be either red-carded or yellow-carded by the European Union.

Gen Chatchai Sarikalya, the minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, instead, said the details on progress were being made on its attempts to address illegal fishing within the country’s fisheries industry in accordance with the IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) guidelines.

The minister stated that he has received communication from the EU confirming that they have been notified of the measures to address the matter by the delegation sent by Thailand.

Furthermore, no conditions have been attached in its referendum on the matter but they have confirmed that they will be sending a delegation of their own to the country at the end of the month to personally check on progress being made on the enforcement of the installation of tracking devices on all vessels, he said.

Other than this, the delegation will also be focusing on the implementation of ‘back-track’ or reverse tracking procedures to policing fishing vessels as well as the strict enforcement of relevant laws and the setting up of the ‘port-in port-out’ center to monitor the coming and going of all fishing vessels.

Gen Chatchai said further that all these issues have been continuously addressed by Thailand and only recently new organic laws have been approved.

He revealed that there were only 4 new legislations remaining which have not been enforced as they have been deemed unnecessary for the time being.

He went on to confirm that he has not received any notification from EU officials over any extension period for their evaluation of Thailand’s case or either any yellow-carding or red-carding of Thailand’s fisheries sector as was rumored.

He added that he felt that the country was not in any way being pressured to acquiesce.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/166802-2/


-- Thai PBS 2016-06-10

EU commissioners to inspect Thailand's IUU fishing crackdown

BANGKOK, 10 June 2016 (NNT) - The European Union (EU) has planned to send its commissioners to Thailand in late June to observe the progress of the government’s crackdown on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Speaking about the visit by EU officials, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Gen. Chatchai Sarikulya disclosed that the European officials were scheduled to follow up on the government’s effort to eradicate on IUU fishing. These efforts include the installation of Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), product traceability procedures, operation of Port In-Port Out centers and the enforcement of related laws.

The minister said the government has already passed ancillary laws to strengthen its campaign against IUU fishing. He revealed that he was not notified of the EU’s decision to extend Thailand's yellow card status and claimed that the government was not under pressure from the regional bloc.

Gen. Chatchai also spoke of the government’s anti-corruption campaign, following the sentencing of former Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chucheep Harnsawat and his secretary Wittaya Thienthong to six years in jail by the Supreme Court. The two were found guilty of refusing to deal with irregularities in the 300-million baht fertilizer procurement.

The minister revealed all agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives were instructed to tighten their corruption prevention measures. Any official found to be involved in malfeasance will face stiff legal action. Gen. Chatchai urged the public to report any suspicious activity by state officials.


-- NNT 2016-06-10

This April 21 2016 statement from the EU is the most recent I can find re Thailand. It's not a very encouraging one...

In this context, the Commission attaches particular importance to the ongoing dialogue with Thailand. The country was warned with a yellow card [in April 2015] due to its inadequate fisheries legal framework and poor monitoring, control and traceability systems. Like all pre-identified countries, Thailand was proposed an action plan to address shortcomings. The Commission is currently evaluating progress. The dialogue is proving difficult and there remain serious concerns about the steps taken by Thailand to fight IUU fishing activities. This means that further action by the Commission cannot be ruled out. A meeting with the Thai authorities in May will be a new opportunity for them to show their good will and commitment.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-16-1457_en.htm

And the original April 2015 yellow card decision:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2015.142.01.0007.01.ENG

Historically the Thai fleet contributed to 40 % of overall marine capture fisheries production. This has considerably declined in recent years due to overfishing of demersal and pelagic stocks in Thai waters (5). In 2007, the Thai fleet was reported to be fishing in Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Somalia, Madagascar and Myanmar with more than 460 known vessels. Today the distant water fleet is reduced to 10 longliners authorised to fish in the IOTC area and 52 trawlers licenced to fish in Papua New Guinea. The decline of fish stocks in Thai territorial waters combined with reduced fishing area through the loss of rights of access to third country waters suggests that high number of fishing vessels continue to operate illegally without regulation or reporting of catches both on the high seas and in coastal States waters.

(30)

The fleet has expanded by more than 15 000 vessels since 2011, now reaching circa40 000 vessels of which 7 000 are classified as commercial vessels (each having a gross tonnage of more than 20 tonnes). Of the total, less than a fifth use logbooks, which suggests that the majority of catches go unreported. In this respect, Thailand has failed to uphold its responsibilities as coastal State to ensure optimum utilization of fishery resources in its EEZ according to scientific, environmental and economic factors as prescribed for in Articles 61 and 62 of UNCLOS. This also contravenes point 24 of the International Plan of Action to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IPOA IUU (6)) that provides for the obligation to submit regularly logbook information on catches.

(31)

Recitals 28 to 30 demonstrate that Thailand's fisheries and industry are characterised by declining fish stocks, reduced fishing area (EEZ area closures and loss of access to third country coastal states waters) and an increasing fishing capacity (circa4 000 commercial vessels in 2011 to 7 000 in 2014). The facts described in these recitals all support the preliminary conclusion that the Thai fleet operates illegally outside Thai territorial waters with catches are either unreported or mis-declared.

Edited June 10, 201610 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

I read the article yesterday in BP. Here's a paragraph from it.

BRUSSELS - The European Union warned Thailand on Tuesday to take "swift and determined action" by next month to improve its fisheries and labour practices or face a serious economic threat of an EU ban on Thai seafood.

Apparently the Minister doesn't read the BP Post, or maybe his mail is late in arriving.

Looks like it was a June 7 Associated Press article out of Brussels that the Post first carried containing the latest threat from the EU.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/23c383936a104ee685806dff81f8dcbd/ap-newsbreak-eu-pressures-thailand-fish-labor-reform-0

And then a follow-up June 9 article written locally by the Post with the Thais promising to get serious on the issue by an upcoming meeting in July -- something they've been promising to do for the past 5+ years to little avail, according to the EU's statements.

Edited June 10, 201610 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

Why keep reporting on this.

The EU will never red card Thailand.

Too much money involved.

Nothing in EUbusiness web site's link about the latest news on the European Union's fisheries policy (http://www.eubusiness.com/topics/fisheries).

Are there pink cards, or orange cards?

Surely the EU can be made to "understand" that the Junta is actively addressing IUU guidelines, this afternoon anyway.

Are there pink cards, or orange cards?

Surely the EU can be made to "understand" that the Junta is actively addressing IUU guidelines, this afternoon anyway.

Ah yes. The hub of better understandings...

Winnie

The Thai fishing indudtry couldn't be honest even if they wanted to.It is hard to overcome a mixture of corruption and total incompetence.

Apparently the Minister doesn't read the BP Post, or maybe his mail is late in arriving.

I think, he has read it and now presents his version of the "truth".

The EU, know this country deserve a red card :

Do it, and the EU will get the blame for the collapse of the fishery industry.

Dont do it, and the thai fisher will carry slave labour as usual.

Meanwhile, thai govt will play the victim...

Why keep reporting on this.

The EU will never red card Thailand.

Too much money involved.

You clearly do not understand the EU. They will happily make decisions that are stupid and cut of their nose to spite their face.

If you think they will not ban Thailand from shipping seafood into the EU you are very much mistaken.

Time will tell, either Thailand sort themselves out or the EU will act, for sure.

40,000 unregistered/unregulated trawlers all netting everything that's down there, all manned for free by Myanmar slaves, & 30,000 Chinese (quality) tourists all spending 5,000B per day here..no wonder the Thai economy is doing so well..(555!). An EU ban will just shift the seafood trade towards China..who won't give a damn about the how/where/who's..just the price.

Why keep reporting on this.

The EU will never red card Thailand.

Too much money involved.

You clearly do not understand the EU. They will happily make decisions that are stupid and cut of their nose to spite their face.

If you think they will not ban Thailand from shipping seafood into the EU you are very much mistaken.

Time will tell, either Thailand sort themselves out or the EU will act, for sure.

Although I do agree that the EU does a lot of stupid things, I've got a 1000b that says that they won't ban Thailand from shipping it's seafood.

Why keep reporting on this.

The EU will never red card Thailand.

Too much money involved.

You clearly do not understand the EU. They will happily make decisions that are stupid and cut of their nose to spite their face.

If you think they will not ban Thailand from shipping seafood into the EU you are very much mistaken.

Time will tell, either Thailand sort themselves out or the EU will act, for sure.

Be entertaining to watch the reaction if they do...

Winnie

.....la-la land......

Why keep reporting on this.

The EU will never red card Thailand.

Too much money involved.

You clearly do not understand the EU. They will happily make decisions that are stupid and cut of their nose to spite their face.

If you think they will not ban Thailand from shipping seafood into the EU you are very much mistaken.

Time will tell, either Thailand sort themselves out or the EU will act, for sure.

Nah, the brown envelopes have been passed on. The EU is as corrupt as FIFA.

Why keep reporting on this.

The EU will never red card Thailand.

Too much money involved.

You clearly do not understand the EU. They will happily make decisions that are stupid and cut of their nose to spite their face.

If you think they will not ban Thailand from shipping seafood into the EU you are very much mistaken.

Time will tell, either Thailand sort themselves out or the EU will act, for sure.

Although I do agree that the EU does a lot of stupid things, I've got a 1000b that says that they won't ban Thailand from shipping it's seafood.

Because as honest as the EU will claim to be over this matter,the EU will over look the irregulateries because they need the fish products from these cheap imports with their own fishing boats so regulated that they can't make any profit

Actually, one may be able to link the recent crackdown on the massage parlors, to this massive problem of human trafficking on the fishing fleets, and the ongoing use of slaves, as labor.

Since they are not willing to tackle this problem in an effective manner, they need ways to convince the world it is not being completely ignored. Why not go after a few very small fish, instead of pursuing the higher ups, who are truly responsible?

Protect the elite, and the well connected, at all costs.

As said in post 20 '' protect the elite at all costs'' we see it in the transport of drugs to and thru Thailand weekly, carnage on the roads, by hi-so and they walk. Corruption is so open / evident that those recieving money do not even try to hide their lavish life style. The bib give press releases warning how and when they will act on illegal going on or in some cases solve the crime ( make an arrest of a patsy ) in record time, while ignoring evidence pointing toward a hi-so. It has become quite disturbing to people concerned with law and order, as it is intended to work, to observe just how unfair it has become in the LOS.

As said in post 20 '' protect the elite at all costs'' we see it in the transport of drugs to and thru Thailand weekly, carnage on the roads, by hi-so and they walk. Corruption is so open / evident that those recieving money do not even try to hide their lavish life style. The bib give press releases warning how and when they will act on illegal going on or in some cases solve the crime ( make an arrest of a patsy ) in record time, while ignoring evidence pointing toward a hi-so. It has become quite disturbing to people concerned with law and order, as it is intended to work, to observe just how unfair it has become in the LOS.

The breakdown of l;aw, order and the justice systems is a major requirement for declaration of failed state status.

W

Expansion of trade with Russia and access to Eurasian markets is set to grow massively......not only weapons and equipment but agricultural products too. Fact.

Expansion of trade with Russia and access to Eurasian markets is set to grow massively......not only weapons and equipment but agricultural products too. Fact.

Expansion of trade with Russia and access to Eurasian markets is set to grow massively......not only weapons and equipment but agricultural products too. Fact.

Not fact. prediction. Worse even than that - a Thai prediction.

Might happen, might not, it's certainly not a fact.

W