Ministry rushing to resolve shortage of fishermen
THE Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry today (August 17) held a meeting with Thai Fisheries Association to find a way to resolve a severe shortage of fishermen, Thai News Agency said.
General Chatchai Sarikulya, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said after the meeting with the association that he had also invited the Labor Ministry and the Marine and Fisheries departments to join the talks and find a way out.
According to an agreement reached earlier the Labor Ministry is the key agency in charge of sorting out this problem with this issue also linked to government-to-government agreements which had been signed with neighboring countries.
He added that it would take three to six months to reach a settlement.
This meeting focused on whether the Fisheries Act of 2015, Section 83 could be used to temporarily resolve the problem but this would only be a temporary arrangement.
Regarding the Marine Department’s regulation that there has to be an engine mechanic on all fishing boats, Gen. Chatchai said fishing boat operators have to send their workers to be trained to do this duty in order to take their boats out to sea.
The minister also mentioned that a total of 1,334 fishing boats have been seized and fishing operators could either bring in old boats to exchange for one of these or buy new ones and register them correctly.
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Top: Some fishing boats at Koh Phangan Island. Photo: Dany13 (CC-BY-2.0)
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