The Association of Thai Fisherfolk Federation (ATFF) on July 3 issued anurgent statement in favour of the government’s effort to eradicateillegal fishing in Thailand, and also announced relief plans to help thepublic affected by the banned sailing of illegal vessels.

In the statement, ATFF President Sama-ae called for stoppage ofdestructive fishing practices using dangerous fishing equipment such astrawl, push nest, and electric tools for catching young fish, afterthese practices had been allowed for more than 30 years.

The statement identified that the practices were mostly carried out bybusiness investor groups, who also often violate the regulation thatprohibits fishing in the conservation area which is less than 3kilometres from shore, causing many conflicts that lead to theharassment to folk fishermen.

The ATFF claimed thatthe number of folk fishermen accounts for 85 percent of the entirefishermen in the country, but can catch only 23 percent of the totalcatches as most of the catches come from illegal fishing practices. Italso expressed in the statement that the eradication of the illegalfishing practices would help lift the EU’s yellow-card warning onThailand.

On the planned strike of fishing vesselsand fishery related businesses in Songkhla scheduled to begin on July 4which might cause the price of fishery products to rise, the ATFFannounced that it would hold a campaign to sell fishery products at fairprices at various spots to help consumers during the time of shortageof seafood in the market.-VNA