Yesterday Wimon Jantaralothai, Fisheries Department director, revealed the result of the fisheries policy committee’s first meeting, headed by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, where it was decided to cancel Article 32 of the Fisheries Department Announcement, which required the local fishermen to register traditional fishing equipment.

Wimon said the cancellation made it so the local fisheries were not under the jurisdiction of Article 34 of Fisheries Emergency Decree, which had previously barred them from fishing beyond three nautical miles, so the fishing restrictions were unlocked for local fishermen.

“As many local fishermen demanded the government revoke Article 34, the committee saw that the cancellation may affect the entire emergency decree and ordered the revocation of Article 32 of Fisheries Department Announcement instead. Meanwhile we will set up a subcommittee to review the Article 34 amendment,” he said.

However, to control the local fishers from degrading the natural resource, he said the fisheries department will announce a new article from the department forbidding certain kinds of equipment and some sizes of traditional fishing vessels.

“The committee also agreed on the principle of a fishing quota, which it will grant to legally-registered fishing vessels first, as this will be another option to promote sustainable fishing,” he said.

He also disclosed that the committee came to the conclusion to draft a policy for four types of fisheries, which are: domestic fishing, international fishing, aquaculture and fisheries industry adding that a subcommittee will be set up to complete this task within six months.