Fishing ban helps increase marine life resources

BANGKOK, May 18 (TNA) – The three-month fishing ban in the Gulf of Thailand has helped the marine life reproducing and the number of marine life resources, particularly mackerel has increased, the figure from the Department of Fisheries showed. Director-General of the Department of Fisheries, Adisorn Promthep said the ban on some certain fishing gears, which was imposed during the spawning season from Feb 15 – May 15, 2017 in parts of Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon and Surat Thani, covering about 26,400 square kilometres, has helped restore depleted fish populations. After the three-month ban, the department’s officials checked with sounders and detected about 3,000 kilogrammes of fish breeds and its offspring, weighing about 10,000 kilogrammes, off Pha-ngan island. Local fishermen also caught bigger mackerel in Chumphon and schools of small mackerel in abundance were found about 3-5 nautical miles off the coast from Chumphon to Surat Thani, said the director-general. These indicated that the marine life resources have been restored, he added. He said the implementation of the fishing ban during the spawning season and cooperation from local fishermen and commercial fishing operators can help replenish the country’s fish stocks, which have been affected by overfishing. (TNA)