Speaking on behalf of the villagers at about 3.30pm, Mr Tiwakorn Thongkerd, president of the “Midday Anchovies Fishing [using] Surrounding Net” group of Koh Yao Yai said that the ban has seriously affected livelihoods of families depending on harvests from more than 30 vessels, and has had a negative snowball effect on the local economy, affecting hundreds of households.
The ban – which has been effective for about one month now and restricts fishing utilizing vessels weighing 10 or more gross tonnes to operate within three nautical miles of the island – is part of government measures aimed at curbing overfishing, as well as clamping down on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices.
“Anchovies are a key part of the entire fishing system that is directly linked to other types of fishing, and many families here depend on it. Most of the anchovies are found within three kilometres of shore,” said Mr Tiwakorn.
“Sure, there are some anchovies beyond that, but not many, and it becomes too expensive for us to fish so far off shore,” he added, noting that expense was also the reason why fishermen need to use larger vessels.
“We used to require two vessels [per operation], one to catch the anchovies, the other to prep and boil them. Using one large vessel proved to be more economical, greatly reducing our base costs,” he explained.
Villagers handed their complaint to Mr Buree Thammarak, Koh Yao District Chief, who appeared to sympathize with the villagers.
“The district and province [of Phang Nga] are aware of this problem and have met about it recently. We agree that the ban needs to be revised for these fishermen. Mr Narong Pipatchai of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative will lead a committee to visit Koh Yao Yai on May 11 to hear the problem from the villagers directly and we’ll take it from there,” he said.