The Bangkok Post on 25 April 2015, The Marine Department has stepped up its supervision and law enforcement on fishing boats to clamp down on human trafficking and illegal fishing. The move followed the European Union's warning on Tuesday that Thailand must take action within six months to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing or face a ban on its seafood exports worth 20 billion baht a year to the bloc.
Thailand, the world's third largest seafood exporter, has since adopted corrective measures to protect its fishing industry, a lifeline of the economy. A new rule to take effect on Sunday is that a boat of 60 gross tonnes or more must install a vessel monitoring system (VMS) in three months or by July, Marine Department director general Chula Sukmanop said on Friday.
Related laws will also be amended to require fishing boats of 30 gross tonnes operating outside Thai waters to report their entries and exits. Up until now, only those of 60 gross tonnes or more were required to report their exits six hours in advance and 24 hours after they enter Thai territorial waters.
As for punitive action on officials implicated in human trafficking, Mr Chula said supervisors and inspectors are given clear instructions to strictly follow protocols when they patrol or inspect boats. In the first quarter of this year, 548 rounds of inspection were made on 4,049 boats, of which 270 were found to have violated related rules and laws and fined from 500 to 10,000 baht each.
The department has also been stringent with registration and waived the inspection fee for small boats of less than 20 gross tonnes for one year to March 12, 2016. In the same period, 5,166 new boats were registered and 7,153 had their permits renewed. A permission must also be sought from the department for new crew. If they are foreign workers, copies of their work permits and employment contracts must be presented. Currently, 8,632 crew on 703 boats have been approved, 6,981 of whom are migrants.
Authorities also conducted a survey and found there are 319 fish piers serving boats of 30 gross tonnes or more. Their operators will be instructed to register them, as well as to send information on boats failing to comply with rules and to report their entries and exits to authorities. "These measures ensure more fishing boats will be registered, making it possible for us to supervise them. More plans are also being drafted to tackle IUU and human trafficking," he said.
Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/541043/boat-inspection-reporting-in-focus
