The plight of fishermen as IUU fishing regulation bites
The suicide of a fishing boat skipper in Pattani on September 26 is a clear reflection of the hardships confronted by thousands of fishermen and their families because their illegal fishing boats have been banned from setting sail to fish for at least three months now.
The 53-year old skipper of Choke Patcharee 2 fishing boat registered in Pattani province, Mr Suraphol Wongkrut, hanged himself to death because he could not find the way out of his financial trouble after he was stranded for about four months as he could not go out to sea to fish as he used to do.
The problem with Choke Patcharee 2 is that it was regarded as illegal as it was equipped with illegal fishing gears. The boat owner, Mr Thanawat Laotong, said he owns seven fishing boats – all except one were legally registered but after the National Council for Peace and Order issued new fishing rule to conform with the European Union’s IUU (illegal, unregistered, unreported) fishing, three of his fleet, including Choke Patcharee 2, were rendered illegal as they did not meet the set requirements.
Also, the NCPO has ordered all fishing boats to stop fishing nine days within a month in order to give the sea a break.
The skipper’s wife, Mrs Prai, admitted that her husband became very stressed because he was out of work for a few months and did not have any income but expenses.
She, however, said she didn’t expect him to commit suicide although admitting that he usually would not tell his family of his problems and would try to solve them by himself.
The skipper’s boss, Mr Thanawat, said that he had been giving cash to the former occasionally although the fishing boat was stranded at the pier. He added that he also had to take care of his crews too.
Nevertheless, he admitted that he might have to stop hiring his crews if there is no way for his fishing boats to resume operations.
He pleaded with the NCPO and the government to rethink its tough fishing rules. He claimed that fishing operators were not given sufficent time to change their fishing gears to the legal ones and also the change would require substantial investments.
Another skipper from Nakhon Si Thammarat who attended Suraphol’s funeral in Pattani, Mr Somnoek Noosen, admitted he, too, was out of work for a couple of months now because he could not set sail as his boat was illegal.
He said one of his sons had to drop out of school because he had no money to afford his schooling.
About 100 fishermen, fishing boat owners and skippers gathered at Ban Laem Nok in Pattani’s Muang district on September 29 to discuss how to resolve their problem.
The meeting agreed to petition the NCPO asking for help to ease their problems, especially regarding the nine-day per month fishing ban.
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Caption : Mrs Prai Wongkrut, in her husband's funeral