EU ‘Green card’ for Thailand expected over IUU fishing
Thailand will at some point receive a “green card” from the European Union for its efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, once the EU realises the real progress the government is making in this regard, according to Steve Trent, executive director of the Environmental Justice Foundation. After meeting with Agriculture Minister Chatchai Sarikulya during the “Asia Regional Conference on Building Ocean Health: sharing experiences to move towards sustainable fisheries management”, held in Seoul on November 29-30, Trent said the EJF had seen the progress made to date by Thailand in solving IUU problems in the fishing industry and believed the country’s work and good intentions would be recognised and Thailand removed from the “IUU Report” of the EU. “Thailand will succeed in getting a green card after being given yellow-card status almost two years ago. But I don’t know when, and the EU would like to see long-lasting measures for sustainable fishing,” he said. The EU will continue to visit the Kingdom to inspect the country’s efforts next year, while the EJF will continue to forge closer ties with Thailand, helping it to combat IUU fishing and create sustainable development for the fishery sector, he added.
