Both public and private sectors in Thailand have been working together to overhauled fishery practices to end the use of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU).  The public-private effort has provided the tangible progress, and praised from several notable organizations. However, they still need to work more to attain IUU-free status.

Thailand is the third largest seafood exporters in the world. Over 2 million people, including locals and migrant workers from neighbor countries, are working in the industry.  With outdated regulations, and lack of effective monitoring system, the workers became vulnerable targets for slavery and other unfair treatments.

The turning point came in 2015, when the EU issued “Yellow card” to pressure Thailand on modern slavery issue.

Since then, Thai government led by Department of Fisheries has been cooperating with domestic companies, local fisheries, NGO and partners across the world to set up the new fishery standards to ensure that all labours working in the industry are treated fairly and in line with internationally-recognized practices. The cooperation led to the new fisheries and maritime laws in 2015.

The new laws provides up-to-dated and effective framework as well as giving more clear definitions to prevent legal loopholes. Furthermore, the new legislations have more serious punishments and enforcement. More than 4,200 cases were prosecuted by these new laws.

The monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) system is upgraded. Port In – Port Out (PIPO) Control Centers are set up nationwide. All Thai vessels must report to the PIPO centers for inspections such as registrar, license, gear and fishermen’s work permits to detect suspicious activities.

An integration of the new innovations and over 4,000 fully-trained persons has helped the MCS operations to be more systematic and effective. In addition, Thailand has been continuously developed a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) to monitor real-time activities of fishing vessels with the private sector such as Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL (CPF). The company’s representative serves as one of the members of the Board of Directors of the Seafood Task Force and has an important role in driving supply chain management by utilizing technology to monitor vessel behavior.

Beside the public-private partnership, the domestic food producers like CPF, one of the largest shrimp producers in Thailand, have made its own agenda to ensure that its supply chain is IUU-free.

In CPF case, the company has set a target to implement 100% auditing of critical suppliers on sustainability aspects covering environmental, human rights, and labor issues, specifically on fishmeal suppliers within 2020. It is noted that fishmeal is one of the ingredients it uses in its shrimp feed production and it is the only linkage between the Company and the ocean.

To achieve the goal, it has encouraged and supported its fishmeal suppliers to develop sustainability in the supply chain as well as at the origin of raw material under the International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organization Responsible Supply standard (IFFO RS), the best international standard for fishmeal production and sourcing.  At present, 100% of fishmeal used in its operation in Thailand is already certified IFFO RS and totally come from the by-product of fish-processing plants.

Dr. Sujint Thammasart, DVM, Chief Operating Officer - Aquaculture Business of CPF, said IFFO RS certification will guarantee transparency and sustainability in CPF’s fishmeal supply chain. In addition, it will set the new standard for the company business across the world.

“We have a purchasing policy to only purchase by-product fishmeal, which is traceable and sourced from processing plants certified by IFFO RS or the IFFO RS Improvers Programme (IFFO RS IP), and by-catch fishmeal from suppliers which have been certified according to international standards or legally examined by various parties including officials, representatives from Department of Fisheries, traders, consumers and academia,”  Dr. Sujint said, pointing that the IFFO RS standard will strengthen competitiveness in the long run.

IFFO RS will allow the company to trace back its fishmeal supplies from factories through fishing boats/ fishmeal origin.

The significant progress in Thailand fishery industry has been recognized by several high-profile organizations such as European Parliament's Committee on Fisheries (PECH), the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. However, The EU suggested that Thailand still need to improve fleet management and laws enforcement in order to have yellow card lifted.