Seafood industry urged to stop overfishing, forced labor

BANGKOK, Feb 1 (TNA) -- An environment activist network calls on seafood industry to stop overfishing and forced labor in the attempt to address illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The network held a press conference on Tuesday on the roles of businesses and civil society in solving problems regarding Thailand’s fishery industry. Banjong Nasae Director Thai Sea Watch Association, although the government had moved to enact new and tougher regulation it was not enough to solve the problems without world’s leading seafood manufacturers’ participation. The government has introduce Fisheries Act in a bid to restore Thai natural sea resources and tackle human trafficking, after the country was issue a ‘yellow card’ for IUU fishing byt the European Union in 2015. While urging the government to strictly enforce the fisheries law, Banjong said that was not enough: private businesses must be drawn in the effort. Seafood industry must stop buying catches from trawlers equipped with destructive fishery equipment such as trawl nets and push nets which diminish the seafood stock. “Effective marine natural resource management is an important thing to tackle the long-standing problem with human trafficking,” Banjong said. International activists have pointed out that the lack of marine resource management exacerbates human trafficking problem, as declining catches have led to operators cutting costs further by using slave and forced labor. The network also demanded total elimination of forced labor and improved working conditions and welfare of workers in the fishery industry. (TNA)