Agriculture and fishing
Fishing, fisheries and aquaculture
DNA test proves Benjina corpse is Thai
A DNA test has confirmed that a corpse unearthed on Indonesia’s Benjina Island is that of a Thai crew member of a fishing trawler, Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya said on 16 December. Indonesia earlier believed the body was a Cambodian national, based on the seaman’s book found ...
Shrimp peeled by slaves in Thailand
Pervasive human trafficking has helped turn Thailand into one of the world’s biggest shrimp providers. Despite repeated promises by businesses and government to clean up the country’s US$7 billion seafood export industry, an Associated Press investigation has found shrimp peeled by modern-day slaves is reaching ...
Myanmar fishermen give testimony in trafficking case
Fishermen who were enslaved and in some cases held captive for a decade aboard seafood trawlers in Indonesia are now taking part in a lawsuit against one of the accused companies. The 14 Myanmar fishermen were flown back to Indonesia to serve as witnesses in the ...
Dams slash Mekong fish stocks
More than 70 Vietnamese and international scientists and other experts and officials from ministries and international organisations discussed ongoing research into the impact of dams on the mainstream of the Mekong River at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on 4 December. At the conference ...
New fisheries office inaugurated in Kep
The Fisheries Administration (FA) plans to strengthen its presence in Kep province with the opening of a new cantonment there, officials announced in an official ceremony on 3 December morning. The move comes after what conservationists say has been a steady increase in illegal trawling in Kep ...
Vietnamese ignore health risks, catch fish from dioxin-polluted lakes for sale
Fish buyers never know that fish may have been caught illegally, from lakes heavily contaminated by extremely dangerous chemicals. Bien Hoa airbase, which is around 30 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, is one of the sites with the severest and longest lasting dioxin pollution in the ...
Parasite blamed for fish deaths in Sihanoukville
Fish farms in Sihanoukville have lost an estimated 100 tonnes of fish to an aquatic parasite infestation in the past five days, Fishery Administration officials said on 1 December. The parasite, known as “marine velvet” or Amyloodinaum Ocellatum, feeds on fish tissue – giving it a ...
Myanmar navy seizes close to 50 unlicensed trawlers
The Myanmar navy has seized 49 trawlers caught illegally fishing in Myanmar waters since 2013, parliament heard on 30 November. Deputy Minister for Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development U Khin Maung Aye told MPs eight of the boats were from Thailand and the rest were local. ...
Thai traffickers exposed by campaign group investigating fishing industry
A three-year investigation into slavery on Thailand’s fishing boats has uncovered a well-oiled system of trafficking, abuse and exploitation in the southern port of Kantang, leading to eight arrests this month, a campaign group said on 30 November. The owner of a fishing company, three enforcers ...
Vietnam Coast Guard seizes armed Thai ship for oil smuggling
A Thai ship has been caught selling oil illegally to a Vietnamese fishing boat in southwestern waters, the Vietnam Coast Guard said in a statement. V.Lucky with five Thai crewmen was carrying 170,000 liters of diesel and pumping the oil to a Vietnamese fishing boat that ...
