Leading MEP urges Thailand to do more to tackle 'horrifying' impact of illegal fishing

A leading MEP has urged the Thai authorities to do more to combat the "gruesome and horrifying" consequences of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the country.

Linnea Engstrom, a Swedish Greens MEP and deputy chair of the fisheries committee in the European Parliament, says that linking human rights violations to future free trade agreements between the EU and Thailand could act as a "spur" for improving the situation.

Her comments come with the 31 October deadline looming for Thailand to comply with the IUU Regulation, which sets international laws on fishing.

The deadline was set by the EU and failure to comply with IUU Regulations could result in Thailand being issued with a "red card", in other words, an EU ban on Thai fishing exports which would be crippling for the already ailing Thai economy.

In an exclusive interview with EU Reporter, Engstrom said she fully supports the EU's policy towards illegal fishing in Thailand, saying: "It's the major overfishing in Thailand's waters which is fuelling the trafficking situation, when boats are forced to go further and further away to find the fish that they used to catch. The drive for cheap sea-food in the EU and U.S plays its part."

She added: "Reading about the trafficked Cambodians, Vietnamese and Burmese poor farmers who are deceived and sold into the Thai-fishing industry is a gruesome and horrifying story. Thailand should offer good working-conditions and real labour opportunities to its people and consider a more ecosystem-based approach to its fishing."

Engstrom went on: "The free trade agenda still appears to weigh more heavily in the political balance than the need to end what a former EU commissioner once called the 'scourge of the oceans'.

"The Greens in the European Parliament have previously advocated the inclusion of explicit references to the IUU Regulation in the free trade agreements that the EU negotiates. Although the IUU Regulation doesn't cover human rights violations it can still be seen as an absolute condition to be able to properly monitor what is going in the fisheries sector, especially for fleets from other countries."

Thailand, the world's largest producer of canned tuna and a growing exporter of fishery products to European consumers, found itself in the dock with the European Commission in April when the EU issued it with a 'yellow card' for non-compliance with IUU Regulations.

The Commission concluded that "little or no progress had been achieved on the critical weaknesses detected from 2011".

Unless Thailand respects international law, by the end of this month it could be facing an escalation of EU infringement actions, including a 'red card' ban on imports.

Engstrom said: "If Thailand doesn't comply with the international rules of how to fish legally, and its own national legislation as well, then there is absolutely no traceability and no chance for improvement. So the IUU Regulation has to be seen as an incentive for proper monitoring which indirectly might spur a process where trafficking and slavery in the sector can be detected and hopefully dealt with.

"Clearly, the main pressure that has led countries that, like Thailand, have been given a yellow card to alter their behaviour has been the threat of sanctions. Without the threat of trade sanctions in fish only, these improvements would not have been made in so many countries."

Specifically, Thailand stands accused of fishing without valid permits or a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), falsifying and concealing vessel identity, failing to record entry, exit and catch data and obstructing the work of coastal officials.

Labour conditions for those working in the  Thai seafood industry have been condemned, with a report earlier this year by Fairfood International calling for action to combat "serious human and labour rights abuses."

Some media reports in Thailand suggest the EU has granted an extension to the 31 October deadline for compliance with the IUU Regulation. The Commission has refuted this and Engstrom says she is against Thailand being given more time.

"No, I don't support it. Reading Thailand's own "Trafficking in Persons 2014 Country report" I was happy that the Thai administration seemed to be taking the trafficking of migrant-workers and the IUU fishing seriously. It was up to the Thai administration to keep its own promises stated in its own country-report."

"But," she added,"this process seems to have failed and it should be said that it seemed impossible to manage such major changes during such a short period of time.

"The Thai leadership seemed to be taken the matter on the IUU Regulation seriously but, as the situation in the fisheries sector has been in such a bad state and neglected for so many years, the task seems impossible to manage during such a short period of time."

She told this website:"What is maybe even more striking is something that is also clearly stated in the country-report mentioned, that is, the need to tackle corruption among high-level bureaucrats and police officers and to work together with neighbouring countries to better protect their citizens."

Engstrom is currently authoring a report for the Parliament on fishing, mainly focusing on the EU's external fleet and agreements that the EU has with "third countries" .

She said:"We need to create more transparency and to have more information on the fleets belonging to member states and how much they catch separately. There is, today, no way of knowing how much fish is caught under, for example, private agreements and joint ventures. We only know how much fish is caught totally, but we don't have information on the vessels and how much they catch. This is an important step to end over-fishing in the waters of many developing countries."

With elections now postponed until the middle of 2017, Engstrom also urged Thailand to "open up for free and fair elections".

A spokesman for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries DG in the Commission said, "As for all cases the pre-identified country (identified with a yellow card), Thailand received a proposed action plan to address shortcomings.

She said: "The pre-identified country then has six months to negotiate with the Commission and address its problems. The dialogue with Thailand is on-going and the Commission is working on a permanent basis with the Thai authorities. At this point in time, the Commission has not taken any decision yet and cannot envisage the outcome of the analysis.

"This period is coming to an end at the end of October for Thailand. No decision to grant an extension to Thailand has been taken yet by the European Commission."

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