The number of local vessels permitted to catch fish in Thai waters stands at more than 10,700, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Chatchai Sarikulya announced on Thursday, adding that it is the first time any government has been able to come up with such a precise figure.
He was trying to illustrate the country's determination to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
"Announcing the exact number of boats in the Thai fishing fleet is a major step in addressing the problem of illegal fishing. Never before has the country known for sure how many local commercial trawlers fish in Thai waters," Gen Chatchai told reporters at a media briefing to herald the government's so-called "IUU-Free" campaign.
The 10,743-ship figure revealed on Thursday was provided by the Fisheries Department that spent more than two years documenting and registering local commercial trawlers.
The registration was part of the government's attempts to get the European Union's yellow card lifted from the lucrative fishery sector.
The European Union issued the card in 2015 over the country's failure to effectively stop IUU fishing. A ban on the export of processed seafood to Europe is likely if Thailand is deemed to have failed to fix listed shortcomings. Thailand is one of the world's largest seafood suppliers with 8.1% of global fishing exports, according to a report by AP. Thai seafood exports were valued at US$3 billion (99.6 billion baht) in 2017, up from $2.84 billion logged a year earlier, said the Thai Frozen Foods Association.
One of the problems was over fishing, partly caused by "ghost ships" or illegal fishing boats using fake licences, Gen Chatchai said. and the government hopes registering all vessels will spell the end of these ghost ships.
Trawlers permitted to fish must present necessary permits such as vessel registration, a fishery licence and show they having environmental friendly fishing gear, Gen Chatchai said.
"We believe this approach will create transparency and accountability regarding these trawlers. It will foster confidence among relevant parties domestically and internationally," he said.
Gen Chatchai said the Marine Department also found 779 unclaimed and dilapidated trawlers blocking navigation routes in 22 coastal provinces.
The government has divided these abandoned trawlers into two groups, based on their condition, with the first comprising 457 vessels and the second 322.
Owners of vessels in the first group will be given until the end of this month to claim their boats, before the Marine Department starts destroying them from Sept 1.
Proprietors of the other 322 boasts were called to deal with their vessels by Sept 16. If they fail to claim the vessels, the department would begin destroying them from Oct 1.
"The destruction of these dilapidated ships is aimed at thwarting the problem of ghost ships, or those that use fake licences, which have been used to catch fish illegally," said Gen Chatchai.
"No other governments in the past dared tackle the problem but this administration dares to do the right things to ensure sustainable fishing for the country," said Gen Chatchai.