Thailand has set up two new special panels of judges in the Criminal Court dedicated to handling illegal fishing cases, in a sign of its determination to tackle Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, the Foreign Ministry said.
Referring to the Criminal Court's order on Jan 29, the ministry said all cases handled by the panels would be deemed extraordinary and wrapped up within six months of being accepted.
Regarding requests for temporary release of the accused or defendants, the panels will consider the circumstances relating to the alleged offence; whether it involves criminal networks or organisations or influential figures; and the impact of the alleged offence on the resources and the environment, the MFA said.
During the past two years, Thailand has prosecuted 79 cases against the owners or crew of overseas fishing vessels, 51 of which have reached final judgment, accounting for 64% of all cases.
Thai authorities have prosecuted another 1,065 cases involving Thai and foreign vessels in Thai waters, including 184 foreign vessels caught illegally fishing in Thai waters. It said 817 or 77%, have been concluded.
In addition, Thailand has implemented administrative sanctions alongside criminal proceedings.
To date, the Administrative Sanction Committee has prosecuted 239 cases, including 66 involving overseas fishing vessels, 103 cases of 30 gross tonnage-or-above Thai fishing vessels, and 67 cases of less-than-30 GT Thai fishing vessels.
The penalties range from seizing the vessel, confiscating its fishing gear and aquatic animals, revoking its fishing licence, and imposing fines which have totalled more than 43 million baht so far.
Giving an example of recent cases, the ministry highlighted the court's ruling on Dec 28 last year that fined three foreign fishing vessels -- the Yu Long125, Yu Long6 and Hung Chi Fu68 -- over 130 million baht on illegal fishing charges.
Executives of the companies received jail sentences of 1 year and 15 months.
A sanction was also applied, including the confiscation of fishing gear and aquatic animals aboard the vessels.