Fishing effort regulation in the coastal fisheries of Thailand
1996
Boonlert Phasuk (Department of Fisheries, Bangkok (Thailand))
Over the last three decades, fish production in Thailand has expanded in a very rapid and substantial manner; annual output now exceeds 3 million tons compared with some 300,000 tons in the nineteen sixties. This phenomenal increase can be attributed mainly to the development of otter board trawling operations in the Gulf of Thailand. The demersal resources are now clearly overfished and in need of efficient management and conservation. The paper describes in some detail the legal measures taken by the Thai government to limit and control entry to the fisheries through licensing and other schemes and the steps taken to prohibit the use of certain types of fishing gears and methods and to designate protected areas and species. Attention is drawn to the difficulties often encountered in implementing and enforcing management regulations, mainly because of the lack of sufficient inspectors and of adequate monitoring and enforcement infrastructures. Other major issues in fisheries development are also examined, including means of encouraging marine fishermen to transfer to other occupations, for example, aquaculture, and the diversification of economic activities in fisheries communities through the promotion of processing for export and involvement in the rapidly expanding tourism sector.
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