Registration for Thai fishing trawlers extended to July 31

BANGKOK, July 4 (TNA) - A government panel tasked with the legal registration of Thai trawlers has extended the registration until July 31, 2015. The panel also announced on Friday (Jul 3) that local trawlers can apply for fishing licences until July 15 in order to lessen their hardships, as many of them have stopped fishing since July 1 for fear of violating the new law. Meanwhile, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Agriculture and Cooperatives Wimol Jantrarotai told a seminar on Friday (Jul 3) that the stiffer fishery law is aimed to correct the fishing industry in Thailand, where most of small and medium-sized fishing trawlers do not have fishing licences. Wimol said that the Thai government wants the owners to register their fishing boats, have legal fishing licences, install fishing gear matching equipment they registered with and install a vessel monitoring system on fishing boats as required by the new law. Abhisit Taejanithisawat, President of Fishing Outside Thai Territorial Waters Association, viewed that the new law should stop agents from cheating fishermen and solve human trafficking-related problems in the country in the future. (TNA)