Thailand prosecuted seven stateless fishing vessels from December to February.
The prosecutions span three offences including falsification of port-in port-out documents and provision of fraudulent reports to the competent port authority; employing fishing crews with no work permits; and human-trafficking of nine Indonesian crew and six Filipino crew who were found to be victims of forced labour onboard.
All seven vessels – Abundant 1, Abundant 3, Abundant 6, Abundant 9, Abundant 12, Yutana No. 13 and Shun Lai - were pelagic longline fleet fishing for tuna, which ported at the Port in Phuket Province. They claimed to be carrying out repair of the vessels, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand.
Investigation
Thailand’s Command Center for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCCIF) asked officers to investigate the vessels in November 2016. The vessels were Bolivian-flagged but were later found to be neither registered in Bolivia nor granted a Bolivian fishing license.
Following seizure of the vessels, the owners were prosecuted and even though no catch was found on board and no landing request was made, the Ministry said the incident has paved the way for the revised Royal Ordinance on Fisheries B.E. 2560. This stipulates that all foreign fishing vessels, with or without catches onboard, are required to notify the competent authorities in advance before entering Thai waters within a set period according to the Department of Fisheries’ Notification.
Thailand has implemented a traceability system to ensure that seafood landed in Thailand does not come from IUU fishing.
