Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has touted his crackdown on fishing industry abuses as a success, but disgruntled fishers are now mulling mass protests against laws they describe as too harsh.
Prayuth tightened up rules to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, as well as forced labor, spurring the European Commission to lift the threat of a ban on Thai seafood.
Trade bodies say the laws are pushing up costs in a US$6 billion export industry that is already grappling with a surging currency.
“We unnecessarily have one of the world’s strictest fishing regulations and harshest penalties that are unfair to Thai fishermen,” National Fisheries Association of Thailand chairman Mongkol Sukcharoenkana said. “More than 100,000 people could protest unless the rules are eased. It’s a time bomb that’s ready to explode.”
A gathering of more than 2,000 fishers and others from the industry was due yesterday at a seafood market near Bangkok.
Thailand is one of the world’s largest fishery exporters, making the sector a major employer.
Prayuth in 2015 began tackling illegal fishing industry practices after a string of complaints.
The former army chief leads a pro-military coalition with a razor-thin majority in the elected lower chamber, and faces a sizable opposition bloc, making even the hint of demonstrations a sensitive issue amid heightened political risk.
Opposition leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit has said that the rules imposed by the junta must be revised to avert a “collapse” of the fishing industry.
He has visited fishing communities and promised that his Future Forward Party would raise the issue in the legislature.
The outgoing military administration aims to address the sector’s concerns before the end of next month, Thai Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Grisada Boonrach said.
“Anything that can be adjusted now will be done right away, but amending the law will require parliament’s approval,” he said in a briefing last week.
Mongkol said that officials are taking too long to address fishers’ worries.
“They keep telling us to wait,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for years and nothing has changed.”
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