Overfishing

1. Too many boats, too many fishermen but still the numbers cannot be reduced

Fisheries resources are a communal resource which all people have the right to use.  Fishing is not difficult and provides high returns which is why Thailand has some 50,000 fishing boats.  Of that total, only 18,184 boats are officially registered with the government as required by law.  Nearly all the rest of the fishing boats are illegal.  A combination of  inefficient government procedures and regulations for controlling the number of fishing boats and different fishing methods plus the inability to make fishermen consider the importance of appropriate fishing operations has resulted in a continuing decline in marine resources.     

Of the 18,184 fishing boats legally registered with the government, about 75% fish in Thai territorial waters.  Of that number, 49% use trawl nets, 26% use floating gill nets, 8% use trammel nets and 5% use pushnets, with the remainder using other fishing methods.

Today the rate of use of benthic coastal marine animal resources in the Gulf of Thailand in areas up to 50 meters deep exceeds the calculated carrying capacity.  Fishing is now intense and excessive quantities of benthic marine animals are being harvested.  The present deterioration of marine animal resources is not the result of overfishing for target species alone; other species are also being caught in large numbers as by-catch.  The deterioration is further exacerbated by the increasing size of all types of trawl nets and by the decreasing size of the mesh in the net bags which are used to catch more trash fish as well as more small fish.  Some of the trawlers which had been fishing elsewhere have returned to fish in the Gulf of Thailand due to the establishment of exclusive economic zones by neighboring countries.  When the cost of fuel increases, trawlers seek ways to reduce operating costs by harvesting even more trash fish, which results in further resource degradation.  Additionally, the use of illegal fishing methods, especially ignoring bans on fishing during spawning seasons and fishing in areas where young marine animals mature are having a negative impact. 

2.  Government support

One factor mitigating against the decrease in number of fishing boats is the government support provided to the fishing industry, e.g., the government provides low cost fuel for trawlers which is most prevalent method of fishing and also the method which uses the most fuel (fuel amounts to about 40-50% of the cost of operation).  The government also provides market price supports for the marine animals caught, such as trash fish, when the price drops.  Trash fish includes immature economic fish as well as other types of fish, so the effect of the government support is to cause significant deterioration of marine resources.  Other factors adding to the deterioration are the use of illegal workers from other countries who are hired as fishermen plus government economic stimulus measures such as reducing taxes on imported boat motors and modern fishing equipment. 

3.  Changing fishing equipment and the use of modern technology 

Changes include the introduction of new fishing methods and modern equipment, use of trawl nets by the industrial fisheries sector and commercial fishermen, improvement of fishing boats and
installation of motors as well as receipt of technical assistance from economically developed countries and international organizations. 

Due to the degradation of marine resources, large fishing boats which fish in deep water have begun to experience increasing financial losses.  The response has been to switch to smaller boats or to change the type of fishing equipment employed, e.g., trawlers switch to using pushnets and operating nearer to the shore to reduce fuel costs.  Animals taken are smaller than before, and include more than 50% immature individuals of economic species, a practice which causes chronic deterioration

4.  Fishing policy which promotes production for export for economic gain more than maintaining the environmental balance in the ocean.

Thailand was the number one producer of seafood products in the world in 1972.  As of 1993 Thailand was still the number one commercial exporter of seafood.  This situation is an important factor in the increasing production of marine products both for domestic consumption and for export.  It is noteworthy that about 14.2% of the marine animals caught in Thailand is consumed fresh domestically, 10% is used for fishmeal, 35% is processed and either frozen or canned for export.  The remaining 9.7% is salted, used to make fermented fish sauce, shrimp paste, etc.  The increasing demand for seafood, both for domestic consumption and for export, has stimulated an increase in the efficiency of fishing methods, both a directly and indirectly, especially in terms of size of boats and types of fishing equipment employed.

The National Economic and Social Development Plan, beginning with the 7th, 8th and 9th plans, specify that the fishing industry is one of the main strategic activities which brings in income to the nation.  Working to maintain the position of number one exporter of seafood is still the main function of the Fisheries Department.  The Department uses every possible avenue to increase seafood production, including increasing the use of modern technology, to the point that the ecology of the ocean is no longer in balance.  Many species have declined significantly in numbers or have even been reduced to economic extinction, that is, to the point where natural replenishment is no longer possible. 

The 1997 report of the Office of Policy and Environmental Planning on the condition of the Thai environment stated that the maximum sustainable yield from Thai waters should not exceed 1.4 million tons per year, which is broken down into pelagic fish (450,000 tons) and benthic fish (950,000 tons).  However, the Thai fishing industry harvests more than 2.5 tons per year.  The quantity of seafood harvested has been increasing even as the abundance in the Gulf of Thailand has been declining.  This situation is due to the increasing use of environmentally destructive fishing practices as well as to the use of equipment which catches animals other than target species to augment total biomass of the catch, that is, the goal is harvesting every type of animal in the ocean.

 5.  Government Policy

Support for some of the factors of production and the flexibility of some limits has the effect of promoting overfishing, for example:

1. Providing funds or helping to find low priced fuel for fishing boats
2. Flexibility which allows fishing boats to refuel by purchasing contraband fuel outside the 200 mile limit. 
3. Providing funds to support the price of seafood or intervening to affect market prices for, e.g., trash fish and tuna-types such as Euthynnus spp., etc.
4. Reducing import duties on machinery and boat motors, communication equipment, fishing equipment, etc.
5. Flexible regulations which allow employing workers from other countries as fishermen.
6. The government has tried to find new fishing areas to substitute for the Gulf of Thailand by negotiating for joint fishing activities with neighboring countries which have a lower level of technology and less opportunity such as Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia to exploit fisheries resources, but the Thai government has not earnestly tried to solve the problem by reducing the excessive number of fishing boats.  Furthermore, this completely destroys the remaining breeding areas for marine organisms.
   

6.Ineffective laws and lax law enforcement

The present decline in fisheries resources is due in part to the ineffectiveness of laws and to lax enforcement of laws related to control of fishing.  The Fisheries Law of 1947 is inefficient and is neither compatible with nor appropriate for sustainable fisheries management. 

Before 1960, Thailand caught 150,000 tons of marine animals.  This increased rapidly to 1.5 million tons in 1972, and by 1977 nets for catching pelagic fish had been developed further, resulting in a catch of 2 million tons.  The catch in 1993 was 2.753 million tons. 

However, even as the total catch of marine animals was increasing, the Thai seas were deteriorating rapidly.  In 1961 it was possible to catch 298 kilograms of marine animals per hour.  By 1989 the hourly catch rate was reduced to 20 kilograms.  A 1998 study conducted by Dr. Chawalit Withiyanon found that the hourly catch had been reduced still further, to 7 kilograms.  In addition, he found that the fish caught were small and that 40% were juvenile economic fish.

The former Director of the Fisheries Department, Mr. Thamrong Prakobbun, agreed that the catch of fish in Thai waters was quite low because of the lack of a fisheries management plan and due to the problems caused by trawlers and pushnets which broke the law by harvesting marine animals within the proscribed 3,000 meter limit and by fishing in closed areas of the Gulf.  He stated that the Fisheries Department was not yet able to effectively enforce the 3,000 meter no-fishing zone regulations. 

The sub-committee to study and establish appropriate regulations for solving the problem of the use of artificial lighting for anchovies fishing mentions the following problems with the enforcement and efficiency of the fisheries laws.

1. Violation of fishing laws is a district court case in which legal action must be brought within 48 hours.  This allows fishing boats which are caught, fined and released to quickly return to fishing.

1. There are problems of jurisdiction for investigative purposes.  (As administrative boundaries on the open ocean are not clear, it is not possible to ascertain in which district and in which province a violation occurred).
2. There are problems with the laws governing fishing equipment which is not an integral part of the boat.
3. Prescribed legal penalties are light, so fishermen are not concerned.  Because of the high profits from fishing, paying fines is seen as cost effective. 
4. Fishing boats and fishing equipment are not confiscated because the fishermen are able to make use of a loophole in the law.  They prepare a document stating that they have rented the equipment they are using.  Under the law, the owner of the equipment is assumed to have no de facto knowledge of or acquiescence in the illegal activity, so his boat and equipment cannot be confiscated.
   

The Fisheries Law of 1947 became effective at the very beginning of the period of significant marine fisheries development (1947-1972); however, from 1973 to the present, for more than 26 years, marine fisheries have operated in a self-destroying fashion by using destructive fishing methods.  Their objective has been solely to maximize harvests.  The 1947 Fisheries Law has been unable to stop the destruction, and in many situations the law actually facilitates an increase in the level of degradation.

7. Continuation of an industry which violates of ecological management practices

Catches of trash fish (various types of non-comestible aquatic animals and immature individuals of different economic species) are sent to fish meal factories where the catch is processed into raw material for prepared animal feed factories and for agricultural fertilizer factories because the price of trash fish and immature economic fish is low and these fish can still be easily harvested from the ocean.  According to Green Peace, over the past decade Thailand has increased by 25% the amount of trash fish sent to animal feed factories, from 680,000 tons to 910,000 tons.  Most of the output is prepared shrimp food for the shrimp export market, with the balance being processed into other types of animal feed, feed supplements, fertilizer, etc.  Research in Europe and America has found that to produce one pound (0.5 kilograms of chicken or beef meat requires 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of fish.

In addition, the marine fish farming industry uses fresh trash fish as feed for fish kept in cages or ponds.  As fish farming expands and the Fisheries Department promotes this activity, the demand for trash fish is increasing, and the price of this commodity is rising.  The result will be a fishing industry that tries to harvest everything.  If many juvenile economic fish are caught, they can still be sold as trash fish as the Fisheries Law does not prohibit the harvest of juveniles.  The overall effect is both direct and indirect promotion of resource destruction.

Guidelines for Solving the Problem
To reduce the number of fishing boats it will be necessary to take the following actions.

1. Limit the age of boats and motors used for fishing.  The age must not be more than “X” number of years.
2. Sell boats which are beyond the maximum permitted age for fishing to other countries such as Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.
3. Sink boats which are beyond the maximum permitted age for fishing to make artificial reefs or to create sites for SCUBA divers to look at a “sunken ship”.
4. Convert boats which are beyond the maximum permitted age to be tourist boats.

Cease providing supplementary funding

Stop providing financial support of fishing practices which destroy marine animal resources and the areas where the marine animals live (capital funds, cheap diesel fuel, tax reductions on machinery and fishing equipment).

Establish product standards

Establish standards for marine products which are harvested using methods which do not destroy marine animal resources and the marine environment (sustainable fishing methods).  Promote the consumption of resources which are acquired in eco-friendly ways to develop appropriate awareness of marine resources.

Policy for ecologically sound management of marine resources

Support research of and establish a body of knowledge about the ecology of fisheries resources and marine resources in Thai territorial waters.  This information should be the basis for marine resource management.

Support the monitoring of changes in fisheries resources in Thai territorial waters to have available current information on the condition of Thai oceans which can be used in making policy decisions regarding management of marine resources and for the dissemination of information on the condition of the fisheries to the general public. 

Law enforcement.  The solution is strict law enforcement.

Articles in the national constitution of 1997 related to the rights and participation of local communities and local administrative organizations provide for their having a role in the maintenance, care and use of biologically diverse natural resources as well as receiving benefits from those resources.  Having local communities play a role in caring for and protecting resources and monitoring the enforcement of laws as prescribed by the constitution would be a good method for insuring that fisheries are operated appropriately and legally.  This course of action would result in a sustainable fishing sector.

The Fisheries Law of 1947 has a loophole which some government officials use as a tool for corruption.  The Cabinet of Ministers resolution of 25 January 2000 concerning regulations to prevent corruption and inappropriate behavior related to the prosecution of violators of the Fisheries Law of 1947, called for the modification of the 1947 Fisheries Law by increasing the penalties for users of illegal fishing equipment which destroys marine resources to a level roughly equal to the value of the losses inflicted on the community or government assets and by allowing the presumption that the owner of a fishing boat or fishing equipment which is used illegally de facto has knowledge of and acquiesces to that illegal activity, therefore, allowing for confiscation of the fishing boat or equipment involved without having to  consider whether an individual would be liable for a court-imposed penalty or not.  These changes would close the loophole in the law and protect against unequal judgments by officials.