Thailand has announced that it will start installing GPS tracking devices in the country’s fishing boats and register them in line with the EU IUU fishing regulation
The EU regulation to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) entered into force on 1 January 2010. Prior to the regulation, an estimated US$1.25bn of illegal fish entered the EU each year.
Nath Chabchai, deputy director general of the marine department of Thailand, said, “Thailand has stepped up the issuance of preventive and repressive measures against human trafficking in the form of fishery labour and illegal fishery in recent years.”
Chabchai revealed that the Fishery Act will be promulgated in June 2015 and it will enable both the fishery department under the Ministry of Agriculture and the marine department under the Ministry of Transport to better cooperate in governing Thailand's fishing industry.
The new regulation has been adapted to suit Thailand’s fishing industry and increase the efficiency in monitoring and preventing any illegal practices including a use of forced labour on the country’s fishery vessels, noted Chabchai.
