Thai government to buy over 50 fishing boats with illegal equipment

BANGKOK, May 4 (TNA) - The Thai Cabinet has given the green light for a 105-million baht-state budget to buy 54 fishing boats equipped with illegal instruments and to compensate affected fishermen. Vice Admiral Jumpol Lumpiganon, Deputy Chief-of-Staff of the Royal Thai Navy, in his capacity as the Spokesman of the government's Command Center for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCCIF), told journalists of the Cabinet's resolution on May 3, as proposed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Vice Admiral Jumpol elaborated that the 105-million baht-budget will be spent on buying the 54 fishing boats equipped with push nets, three of which will be kept for the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources' missions, while the rest 51 boats will be turned into artificial corals off Surat Thani, and Pattani Provinces in the Thai South, as well as Samut Songkhram Province in the central region. The CCCIF spokesman noted that about 70 per cent of the state budget will be used to compensate affected fishermen. The CCCIF spokesman also confirmed that Thai authorities will meet the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of the European Union (EU) during May 19-20 to discuss the EU’s yellow card warning on the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in Thailand. According to the CCCIF spokesman, the 28-member EU will decide later whether it will maintain the "yellow card" or give a "red card" ban on imports of Thai fishery products. (TNA)