The marine fishing management committee has agreed to allow 1,200 fishing vessels to continue to fish in the Gulf and the Andaman Sea for another 20-50 days, effective January 1 to enable them to earn more revenue.

Bancha Sukkaew, director-general of the Fisheries Department, said today that the committee, chaired by Agriculture Minister Thammanat Prompao, has set the following guidelines:

In the Gulf, surface fishing and bottom trawling can continue for 50 days, while anchovy fishing is limited to 30 day. In the Andaman Sea, bottom trawling is limited to 20 days, 30 days for surface fishing and 50 days for anchovy trawling.

Bancha said that all 1,200 fishing vessels allowed to fish have been through E-license process and they can start fishing immediately and continue to do so until the end of March, marking the end of the fishing season. He said that the relaxation of fishing restrictions will help ease the hardships of fishermen and allow them to generate more income, estimated at about one billion baht. He also maintains that the additional fishing had been discussed with all stakeholders and takes account of the rules contained in the illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing regulations.

Source: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/restrictions-on-fishing-vessels-eased/

A revised tropical tuna measure was agreed on during the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting in the Cook Islands, but little progress has been made on tighter monitoring of transshipment that has a reputation for nefarious fishing activity. The decision was made in Rarotonga earlier this month as 26 member countries and participating territories convened to make rules for the world's largest tuna fishery. The measure dictates management around bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna. Pew Charitable Trusts' Glen Holmes said it is arguably the most important piece of management the WCPFC has.

As part of the measure, Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) closure periods in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean were reduced to allow more fishing. FADs are used to attract fish and closure periods mean purse seine fishing vessels cannot fish close by them. The closure periods have been reduced from five months to two and a half months in both the high seas and exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Holmes said the change will put more pressure on tuna stocks, but it is not a concern for his organisation because the science says it is okay.

"Essentially, the closures have been halved to what they previously were and that will result in much higher economic returns for the islands who are selling days for the purse seine fleet," he said. Holmes said "as a trade-off" the longline fleets can also increase how much they can fish but subject to increasing observer coverage - whose job it is to ensure ships are adhering to fishing rules.

Before the meeting, observer coverage for the longline fleet was 5 percent, while the purse seine fleet has 100 percent coverage. "If they increase it to 10 percent coverage, they will get a 10 percent increase on the amount of bingo that the limited members can catch," Holmes said.

World Wildlife Fund Western and Central Pacific tuna programme manager Bubba Cook said observer coverage should be increased purely on science and compliance - not so longline vessels get more opportunities to fish. "That's not the reason we should be increasing observer coverage we should be increasing observer coverage on principle alone."

The Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) director Manumatavai Tupou-Roosen said the new measure was carefully balanced. In 2022, a management procedure, which is a pre-agreed framework for making fisheries decisions, was adopted for skipjack tuna.

Source: https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/505287/nations-agree-on-revised-tuna-strategy-but-concerns-over-vessel-monitoring-remains

The central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), and Maldives Customs data show that fish exports stood at MVR 1.9 billion during the same period last year. Therefore, exports for the current period are up 10.3 percent from last year.

According to statistics, among the various types of fish exports, skipjack tuna, and yellowfin tuna were the most prominent, with fish worth MVR 1.4 billion exported both fresh and frozen. Additionally, canned and poached fish worth MVR 500 million were also exported until November.

According to the latest MMA data, skipjack tuna is currently priced at MVR 26.2 per kg in the international market.

Source: https://avas.mv/en/138087