MARINE FISHERIES

REPORTED DATA

Types of fishing gear used by small-scale and large-scale fishers can be seen in Table 7. The reported productions of marine capture fisheries by type of fishing gear are summarized in Figure 13 (DoF, 2006f). Otter board trawl contributed the highest production about 1.38 million metric tonnes or about 52.2 percent of total production, which is about 2.64 million tonnes. Among SSF, collecting shellfish contributed the highest production, followed by various types of gill nets. However, there have been some unreported productions obtained from marine capture fisheries, particularly from SSF that are not usually registered and therefore do not appear in official statistics. Species composition of marine capture fisheries production is summarized in Table 9 and Figure 14. In LSF, pelagic fish is the dominant production (34 percent), followed by trash fish (31 percent) and demersal fish (19 percent). The important groups of species are anchovy, Indo-Pacific mackerel, big-eye sardines, threadfin beam, round scads and small tunas (Figure 15). For SSF, shellfish is the dominant production (24 percent), followed by pelagic fish (19 percent), crabs (19 percent) and squids (13 percent). The important species are short necked clams, blue swimming crabs and Indo-Pacific mackerels (Figure 17).

Table 7 Gear-based division between large-scale and small-scale fisheries

Table 8 Landed production of marine capture fisheries by fishing gears in Thailand 2004

Note: Methodology for preparing marine capture fisheries statistics is described in Appendix I; DoF (2006f).

DISPOSITION OF PRODUCTION

Marine production is generally sent for processing with most of the fish and shrimp production sent to canning and freezing processing plants and squids mainly sent to freezing processing plants. Fish meal, however, comprises the highest amount disposed from marine production (Table 10). Most of it is produced from trash fish and the fish left over from other processing activities. In 2004, 423 866 tonnes of fish meal were produced by using 771 723 tonnes of trash fish, 112 586 tonnes of other food fish and 671 641 tonnes of the fish left over from other processing activities. The production of fish meal has been continually increasing since 1987, after an apparent drop in production in the late 1990s (Table 11).

FISHING UNITS (BOATS AND CREW)

Fishing units employed in marine capture fisheries are categorized by size and shown in Table 13. Most of them are small-scale fishing units (60 141 units), of which 79 percent are outboard powered boats or long-tail boats. The majority (41 percent) comprises 11 343 large-scale fishing boats (20 to 50 GT). The average size of crew per fishing unit is obviously related to the size of the boat, as is the net profit per fishing unit. The average size of crew per SSF fishing unit is 1 to 3 persons, whereas it is 7 to more than 26 persons per LSF fishing unit (Table 13).

The net profit per fishing household of SSF is 5 955 Baht/month, whereas it is about 3 400 to 464 000 Baht/month/boat for LSF (Table 12). The total number of marine fisheries households is 57 801 households, of which 92 percent and 8 percent are SSF and LSF households, respectively.

Table 12 Cost and income of marine capture fisheries sectors in Thailand

Note: SSF, surveyed from shrimp trammel net, crab gill net and mullet gill net.
          LSF, surveyed from otter board trawl, pair trawl, beam trawl and push net.

Among SSF households, the main fishing gears are shrimp trammel net, crab gill net and mullet gill net, which comprise 20 percent, 14 percent and 7 percent of total SSF households, respectively (National Statistical Office, 2001b). In the peak season, there are approximately 168 000 fishers, of which 56 percent are in SSF and 44 percent are in LSF. In SSF, most of the fishers (81 percent) are family members, but most of the fishers in LSF (94 percent) are employees (Table 13).

Table 13 Number of fishing units, households and fishers of marine capture fisheries in Thailand

Note: Average crews per fishing unit of LSF are surveyed from otter board trawl, pair trawl, beam trawl and push net.

THAI CAPTURE FISHERIES OUTSIDE THE NATIONAL EEZ

The production of marine capture fisheries of Thailand has been steady for years, but this does not reflect the richness of marine resources in Thai waters. In fact about 1.15 million tonnes of total marine production (2.64 million tonnes) are obtained from overseas fisheries (Table 15). This production is from the EEZs of coastal states in Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and East Africa, such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Viet Nam, Bangladesh, India, Oman, Yemen, Madagascar and Somalia. Less than 1 000 tonnes of tuna production are obtained on the high seas (Jantrarotai, 2004b).

The move of Thai fishing boats out of Thai waters is a result of the overexploitation of the fisheries resources in Thai waters. This overexploitation can be seen clearly in the dramatic decline of production per unit effort (CPUE) from trawl surveys in the Gulf of Thailand from 298 kg/hr in 1961 to about 20 kg/hr in the early 1990s (DoF, 1990). Furthermore, the catch composition changed toward smaller and less-valuable species in later years (Kongprom et al., 2003). There have been occasions when there has been a lack of raw materials for the fish processing industry. Hence, Thai fishers with support of the Thai government have sought new fishing grounds outside Thai waters to increase their catch and secure the national fisheries production base.

EEZ OF INDONESIA

About 1 000 to 2 000 Thai boats flying the Thai flag and the Indonesian flag operate in the EEZ of Indonesia with fishing contracts between Thai companies and Indonesian companies (Kongpornprattana, 2006). The boats are 60 to 600 GT. They usually operate in three fishing grounds, namely north of Sumatra, in the South China Sea and in the Arafura Sea.

NORTH OF SUMATRA ISLAND, IN THE STRAIT OF MALACCA AREA

There are about 200 Thai boats fishing in this area with permission to operate as Indonesian boats. Most of them come from Trang province and only 20 to 30 boats come from Satun province. These boats are mostly 50 to 60 GT trawlers. However, Thai boats fishing in this area have faced problems because it is deep water fishing grounds that present difficulties for smaller boats. The Thai fishing boats, thus, tend to move inshore where trawlers are prohibited and they are at risk of being arrested by Indonesian patrols. Moreover, the Thai fishing boats also have conflicts with local small-scale fishers because of the damage their gear and boats make to small-scale fishing gears in coastal areas.

THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, IN NATUNA ISLANDS AREA

There are many Thai boats fishing in this area (600 to 800), depending on the season. The fisher applies for permission to operate as a Thai boat and/or Indonesian boat. Most of them are trawlers from Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram, Petchaburi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla and Pattani provinces. Only some of them (50 boats) are small tuna purse seines from Rayong and Pattani provinces. Since this area does not have an abundance of marine resources, the fishers sometimes come to fish in the coastal area and are at risk of being arrested by Indonesian patrols.

The marine production obtained from this area is transferred back to Thailand by carrier boats, which land fish at fishing ports every day. At Songkhla fishing port for instance, the carrier boats officially land approximately 75 000 tonnes of fish per year and the main part of this production consists of demersal fish (Songkhla Fishing Port Division, 2007, personal communication).

THE ARAFURA SEA

This area can be considered as the most important fishing ground for Thai boats because of its rich marine resources. But the boats fishing in this area should be more than 100 GT and equipped with high technology. The fishers must have a generator onboard in order to freeze fish during long fishing trips. Carrier boats are also needed for carrying fish back to Thailand. In this area, there are about 50 Thai boats flying the Indonesian flag, 300 Thai boats flying the Thai flag and 55 large carrier boats (1 000 GT), which transfer and land fish every day at Samut Sakhon province.

EEZ OF MYANMAR

Thai boats fish in the EEZ of Myanmar under a Joint Venture Programme and a Fishing Right Programme (Boonkumjad, 2004).

JOINT VENTURE PROGRAMME

The present fisheries cooperation between Thailand and Myanmar started in 2001 during discussions between DoF Thailand and DoF Myanmar. The result of discussions was that a Joint Venture Fisheries Programme in the EEZ of Myanmar would be based on two principles: 1) the fishing operation has to be carried out through a Joint Venture Company that will be regarded as a foreign company according to the Myanmar Company Act; and 2) the fishing vessels to be operated by the Joint Venture Company have to fly the flag of the owner's nationality or country of registration. At present there are seven Thai companies that have applied for permission to fish through Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), but so far only two companies have been approved and these sent 19 boats to fish in the EEZ of Myanmar under this programme.

Fishing Access Programme

DoF Thailand held discussions with DoF Myanmar on fisheries cooperation during visits to Myanmar in 2004. After the discussions, Myanmar decided to grant fishing concessions to 500 Thai fishing boats under a Fishing Right Programme through a single Thai company and Thai fishing boats need to be recommended by DoF, Thailand. The Thai company that has been granted this fishing right is the Siam Jonathan Company. As of October 2004, 323 Thai boats have operated in the EEZ of Myanmar under this company (Thummachua, 2004) and landed fish in Ranong province. The amount landed is increasing — from 207 tonnes in April 2004 to 24 282 tonnes in September 2004. The average production of the 70 to 100 GT trawlers operating two trips a month is 67.9 tonnes/month/boat. The species composition is mainly economically valuable species such as round scads, lizard fish, threadfin breams, groupers etc. The average net profit is 465 260 Baht/month/boat.