The Senate on Monday voted 165 to 11 to pass a bill amending the Fisheries Executive Decree 2015 in its first reading while fisherman groups continue to protest against the proposed bill, which will allow night-time fishing using fine-mesh nets within 12 nautical miles from the shore.
Initially proposed by the now defunct Move Forward Party (MFP), the precursor of the opposition People's Party (PP), but was not going anywhere in the last parliament, the bill was later dusted off and resubmitted to the House of Representatives in 2023 by Woraphop Viriyaroj, a PP list-MP, in the current parliament.
One of the most controversial changes proposed in the bill appears to be the amendment to Section 69 of the decree to allow fishing nets with mesh smaller than 2.5 centimetres to be used within 12 nautical miles from the shore.
Section 69 of this decree currently prohibits using fishing nets with mesh smaller than 2.5cm in night-time fishing within 12 nautical miles from the shore.
The Senate has also resolved to set up a special committee to study the amendment bill after it was agreed upon in principle on Monday. The study is expected to take about 30 days, and the bill will then be brought forward for the Senate's deliberation in the second and third readings.
About a hundred protesters -- members of the Federation of Thai Fisherfolk Association (FTFA) -- rallied outside while the Senate examined the bill in its first reading in the chamber on Monday.
If passed and put into force, the bill could cause more than 200 billion baht per year in damage to Thailand's economy, considering the large number of young fish and other marine species that could be wiped out in such fine-mesh nets, said FTFA president Piya Tetyam.
The FTFA is also calling on the Senate to allow representatives of all fishermen, environmental advocates and academics with expertise in coastal resources and fishing to be part of the Senate committee vetting the bill, he said.
Since the bill also contains a proposal to allow the transfer of fish caught by one vessel to another while at sea, this could aid illegal fishing, he said. Allowing offshore transhipment will increase the difficulty of tracing supply chains and detecting illegal fishing, he said.
The bill also proposes to terminate legal protection for workers in the seafood processing sector, according to him. The FTFA is, therefore, determined to continue protesting against this bill till the end, he said.
Meanwhile, Bancha Sukkaew, director-general of the Department of Fisheries, offered an explanation for why the fine-mesh nets should be allowed.
He said Thailand imports about 20,000 tonnes of stolephorus anchovies each year. The amended bill will allow the country to catch more stolephorus and it could then save the country a great deal on such unnecessary imports.