The Royal Thai Government must drop new legislation that’s looking to deregulate the country’s fishing industry and instead reform its fisheries, according to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), with a new report from the international NGO determining that bottom trawling threatens livelihoods, food security and ocean ecosystems, and that in Thailand, fish populations are rapidly declining, with serious consequences for the future of fisheries.
The amount of fish that can be caught for a given amount of fishing time is less than a fifth of what it once was in the Andaman Sea and less than a tenth in the Gulf of Thailand, EJF said, adding that bottom trawling, where large nets are dragged on the bottom of the sea, has significantly contributed to this decline.
Despite making up just 5% of the total fishing fleet, trawlers were responsible for over 40% of total fishery landings in 2021.
EJF said a significant proportion of what is caught now is so-called “trash fish” – a mixture of heavily degraded marine life caught at the back of the trawl net, a near-worthless catch which is not suitable for human consumption.
Much of what is sold as trash fish is made up of juveniles of species which would have been valuable had they been able to mature, it insists.
“This is particularly stark in the case of a uniquely damaging type of bottom trawling known as ‘pair trawling’. Half the pair trawler catch is trash fish, meaning that their indiscriminate fishing practices are damaging Thailand’s marine resources for little to no benefit,” EJF said.
“This comes as the government drafts new legislation which promises to deregulate the Thai fishing industry. The impending changes threaten to return the industry to pre-2015 standards, when Thai fishing vessels gained international notoriety for being the scenes of appalling crimes, including brutal physical abuse, forced labour, and even murders of migrant workers.”
In its “Scourge of the Seas” report, launched on 29 February 2024, EJF is calling for action from the Royal Thai Government to carefully phase out destructive pair trawling fishing. It also recommends the rapid adoption of cost-effective, practical measures improve fisheries transparency.
This, it said, will make it easier to monitor, and ultimately end, overfishing and illegal fishing.
Other suggestions from EJF include ending subsidies that do not contribute to sustainable fisheries, and ensuring greater protection from trawlers for key ecosystems by expanding the Inshore Exclusion Zone to be in line with those of other Southeast Asian nations.
“Thailand’s fish populations are being devastated by a small, unregulated portion of its commercial fleet. Destructive and uncontrolled pair trawling is wiping out the ocean ecosystems that support livelihoods and food security across Thailand, in a short-term grab for profit at far greater long-term costs for people and the environment,” EJF CEO and Co-Founder Steve Trent said.
“Pair trawlers catching vast quantities of juvenile fish threaten to cause an inescapable downward spiral, undermining future healthy fisheries for trash fish today. The Royal Thai Government and Department of Fisheries must take targeted action against the worst offenders now, so they can end this decline, deliver sustainable fisheries and with them better livelihoods and food security for the Thai nation. Instead, they are preparing to entirely deregulate the industry and, in doing so, are jeopardising the rights of those working in the industry and any hope of a long-term sustainable future for fisheries in Thailand.”
