Thai fishing fleets shift to distant waters to avoid crackdown — Greenpeace

BANGKOK: Thai fishing fleets have shifted to remote and ecologically vulnerable waters off the east African coast to evade a regional crackdown on illegal fishing and human trafficking, environmental watchdog Greenpeace said Thursday.

Thailand is the world’s fourthlargest seafood exporter but its multi- billion dollar industry is largely unregulated and rife with rights abuses.

“Without a much-needed monitoring system in such distant high seas, there is no control over what happens there,” said Anchalee Pipattanawattanakul, from Greenpeace Southeast Asia.

The kingdom came under heavy international pressure to clean up the scandal-hit sector after the European Union threatened to ban all Thai seafood products last year.

But despite government efforts to rein in illegal practises and clamp down on human traffickers, violations remain rampant onboard vessels that have moved to faraway and poorly policed waters, according to a new report by Greenpeace.

According to the watchdog, up to 76 Thai-flagged vessels shifted their operations to the Saya de Malha Bank, an area off the coast of Africa, after crackdowns last year in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea – common fishing grounds for Thai ships that long ago depleted stocks off their own coastline. — AFP