Govt hubs to track trawler halt

Fisheries Dept to check effects of stoppage

The Fisheries Department has set up centres to monitor the stoppage by illegal trawlers and the effects of seafood shortages on consumers.

The centres, staffed by departmental officials, will carry out the checks around the clock.

The centres will operate in the 22 coastal provinces to follow up mainly on the impacts of the stoppage by large boats and increases in seafood prices caused by supply shortages, according to Jumpol Sanguansin, the department director-general.

Many large fishing boats have stopped fishing because they were not registered and are therefore operating illegally. They were going out to fish without a licence, creating the so-called illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing problem.

The fishing operators who have yet to register their boats and crew with authorities are being advised to do so by Wednesday.

Operators who have already registered must report to the authorities in person so the government can track their operations. The government wants to register large trawlers so it can keep tabs on the number of fishing boats and prevent overfishing.

Mr Jumpol said the department holds a teleconference with its officials in each of the 22 provinces daily, and also receives updates on the trawler shutdown every day. The number of trawlers coming in and leaving ports in the past four to five days has increased in many provinces as more boats have completed their registrations and are able to resume fishing, he said.

Also, the department has learned that seafood prices in some provinces have increased only slightly while those in other provinces remain unchanged. This is because almost 29,000 registered fishing trawlers can still go out to sea to fish.

Deputy government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said about 3,000 fishing boats are experiencing problems obtaining registration and fishing licences. They include the vessels legally registered but which used illegal fishing nets.

In Samut Sakhon, Talay Thai — the country’s largest seafood wholesale and retail market — yesterday resumed operations after many days of closure. Although the slump in sales at the market has yet to fully pick up, it might take a few days for sales volumes to return to normal, according to one wholesale seafood vendor at the market.

A seafood buyer from Phetchaburi, who asked not to be named, said he was forced to compete fiercely with others to buy as much supply as he could on the first day of the market’s reopening.

The associations of fishing trawlers and seafood wholesale traders in Samut Songkhram yesterday met and agreed to resume normal operations at the Mae Klong market this morning, said Chatchai Samutsodakul, president of the seafood wholesale traders’ association.

In Chumphon, Sompong Puangsa-ard, a fishing trawler operator, said about 80% of fishing boats that had stopped operations had since returned to sea.

The fish market at Songkhla’s provincial wharf, meanwhile, was bustling again yesterday after more fishing trawlers returned with fresh seafood, a local source said.