A Review and Synthesis of Fisheries Data in Thailand

Marine fishery is an economically important sector and the primary source of livelihood for coastal fishers in Thailand, but the open access harvesting system and overfishing have depleted fish stocks. The country should address both the issues to sustain a healthy marine fishery and protect the lucrative export market as well as to maintaining seafood self-su ciency. This paper explains the ongoing processes of implementing the measures of restricting the number and size of fishing vessels and fishing e↵orts to control fishing capacity. The marine resources in the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea are categorized into three separate species groups: (1) demersal, (2) pelagic, and (3) anchovies. The precautionary approach is used as the guiding principle, and maximum sustainable yield (MSY) of the three combined resource categories is used as a reference point in setting the total allowable catch (TAC) limits in this exercise. The number of fishing days per vessel per year is stipulated by issuing licenses based on the TAC size and total allowable e↵ort (TAE). Both the advantages and disadvantages of the current fishing allocation system are discussed.

Corresponding editor: Anukorn BOUTSON Cover designed by Keigo EBATA Field guides on small-scale fisheries in Rayong, Thailand Reference 72 Field guides on small-scale fisheries in Rayong, Thailand Preface Small-scale fisheries play an important role in nutrition, food security, sustainable livelihoods, and poverty alleviation (FAO 2014). Management of small-scale fisheries in developing countries is a challenging endeavor (Sarah et al., 2016). However, the significant contribution of small-scale fisheries are not understood well enough, especially in developing countries around the world, and are distorted by a lack of data (D. J. Mills et al., 2011). The original concept of this field guides is to understand fundamentally how small-scale fisheries currently are, and to compile information on actual condition in small-scale fisheries in the coastal area of Rayong Province, Thailand. For each small-scale fisheries such as crab gill-net, fish trap, floated squid trap, troll line and hook-and-line, we compiled not only the fishing gear construction, fishing methods, and the target species, but also the non-target species and seasonal variations of catch and operation sites. The research has been conducted under the project of "Coastal Areacapability Enhancement in Southeast Asia" which was financially supported by Research Institute for Humanity and Nature. The project creates new idea "Area-capability" which is essential to sustainable development, and refers three aspects as follow: (1) A local community uses resource unique to the region; (2) Resource users understand the importance and take care of the environment that supports the resources used, and (3) A balance is struck between using and caring for resources and the supporting environment, which is evaluated by outside entities (Ishikawa and Watanabe, 2015). Field surveys on small-scale fisheries have been conducted since December 2012. Thirteen small-scale fishers in total were targeted, and logbooks were distributed to all the target fishers to record details of their fishing operations every day. Portable GPS was connected to each fishing Field guides on small-scale fisheries in Rayong, Thailand boat of target fishers to record the positions at 3-min intervals in order to determine the operation sites where fishers deployed and retrieved the fishing gear. Not only log-book record and GPS track but also on-board surveys were conducted to observe fishing operations directly. We visited all target fishers at least once every two or three months to interview about the fishing operations. Data on weather and sea conditions in Rayong were obtained from Thai Meteorological Department and the seasonal variations on small scale fisheries were analyzed.

Marine Fisheries Research Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center eBooks, 1991

Source: Fisheries Record of Thailand, 1990. tion between the government and private sector is the key factor in the development of the industry. Thus, the improvement and strengthening of ser vice and assistance to the people involved in fish processing are included as specific items in the Plan. Department of Business Economics. 1991. Proceedings of the Seminar on export target for Thai products. Organized by the Department of Business Economics. Pattaya, Thailand. 18-20 January 1991. 37 pp. Department of Fisheries. 1990. Fisheries record of Thailand. Department of Fisheries. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. Bangkok, Thailand. 83 pp. Department of Fisheries. 1989. Statistics of fisheries factories. Department of Fisheries. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. Bangkok, Thailand. 50 pp.

Fisheries Research, 2006

Small-scale fisheries provide food and income to millions of people worldwide, yet these fisheries are generally poorly documented and their impacts not well understood. Improved documentation of these fisheries is needed to gauge global trends, identify the threats to their sustainability, and assess management options. Combining semi-structured interviews and participant observation, this study provides baseline information about the nature and scale of small-scale fisheries in the Ko Chang archipelago, Thailand, as a first step towards instituting a monitoring and management strategy for the area. Although the area has been designated as a "no-take" Marine National Park, small-scale fisheries have continued virtually unabated within the park's boundaries. Small-scale fishers living in the park are involved primarily in the shrimp trammel net, squid trap, crab trap, fish gill net, hook-and-line, and reef fish trap fisheries. Small-scale fishing boats operating out of villages on Ko Chang and Ko Maisi Yai worked for an estimated 38,000 days/year and took 330,000 kg/year of target fish and invertebrates, based on extrapolations from interviews. Observed catches of target species were, however, an average of 42-64% lower than fishers' reported catches for the fisheries in which both data collection methods could be used. Such a finding suggests that future monitoring should rely on observational techniques to assess the catches and efforts of small-scale participants. Given the area's status as a national park, regular monitoring of the small-scale fisheries should be undertaken and multiple-use zoning be considered.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2003

Thailand is currently one of the ten largest fishing nations in the world. In 1996, fish production reached 3.7 million t with 90% of the production coming from the marine fisheries sector and 10% from inland fisheries. Thai fishing operates in four fishing grounds namely, the Gulf of Thailand, the Andaman Sea, the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal. However with the establishment of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in 1977, Thailand lost over 300 000 km 2 of traditional fishing grounds.

1997

This volume provides the papers presented at the Workshop, which was conducted to assess the fishery and aquaculture statistics in the Southeast Asian region with a view to recommending ways and means to improve their compilation and dissemination. Abstracts of the papers are cited individually in this issue of ASFA

1987

During the time when initial work on this manuscript began, both authors were affiliated with Kasetsart University in Bangkok. The first author was there as Research Associate of the Agricultural Development Council (A/D/C) and was a member of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. The second author was a Research Associate at the Asian Institute of Technology and a graduate student of Dr. Panayotou who conducted his thesis research on Thai fisheries. Both authors and publishers are indebted t o several anonymous colleagues, including several in Thailand, who kindly reviewed the manuscript and made a number of constructive suggestions, many of which have been incorporated in the final text. Final responsibility for contents of the publication remains with the authors. REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE There are literally hundreds of studies on technical and biological aspects of the Thai fisheries, particularly of the demersal resources and the trawl industry. Very few studies, however, investigate the economics and management of the industry and even fewer attempt to integrate the economic and biological aspects of the fishery and determine the optimality of the prevailing allocation of resources. Here, we will review, chronologically and selectively, only the latter group of studies since the former are too numerous and too specialized t o be reviewed. Since, however, we built on the findings of these (technical and biological) studies we will have cause to refer to some of them in later sections of the study. One of the first economic studies of the Thai fisheries is by Huvanandana (1973) who estimated production functions for the Indo-Pacific chub mackerel (Rastrelliger) fishing industry. He also estimated and compared the costs and earnings of Thai and Chinese purse seines and encircling nets and concluded that the latter was the more profitable gear for exploiting the Indo-Pacific chub mackerel. The Department of Fisheries (DOF) has conducted three cost-and-earnings studies for the trawl fishery, the first in 1969 (unpublished), the second in 1974 (DOF 1974) and the third in 1977 (Rientrakt 1979). The 1969 survey found profits across the board while the 1974 survey reported that all sizes of vessels suffered losses except for the large otter and pair trawlers (> 1 8 m long). In contrast, the 1977 survey found that all sizes of vessels earned substantial profits except for small otter trawlers (< 1 4 m). A more recent survey by the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE 1983) found that large trawlers continue to enjoy high profits. Chapter 5 analyzes and interprets the results of these surveys. Marr et al. (1976) made a detailed review of the fisheries sector in Thailand, including profitability analysis (based on the 1969 and 1974 DOF surveys), determination of maximum sustainable yield, investment requirements and institutional arrangements. It is one of the first studies to recognize the dualistic structure of the sector, to draw attention to the misallocation of resources and the encroachment of foreign fishing grounds and to recommend remedial policies. While the study did not receive the attention it deserves, it has drawn attention to economic and other factors beyond the conventional biological and technical aspects of the fishery and has stimulated further studies. The findings of this rather dated study will be compared with ours in the relevant sections. Vattanavengpanit (1979) estimated the supply and demand functions for marine shrimp. The price coefficients of both the supply and domestic demand were found to be statistically insignificant. In contrast, the coefficients on both price and income were statistically significant in the case of export demand. Panayotou (1980) in recent study reviewed the development of the Thai fisheries, analyzed the 1969,1974 and 1977 DOF survey results and the state of the Thai fishery resources and discussed the sector's prospects and some policy options. Among the findings of the study were the profitability and resilience of the large-scale fishery, the depressed socioeconomic conditions of smallscale fishermen, the overexploited state of fishery resources in the Gulf of Thailand and the bleak prospects for joint ventures without effective management and enforcement capability by both '. ! T h a i l a n d Fig. 2.1. Coastal provinces of Thailand and bordering countries and seas.

Marine Policy, 1987

This article examines the direct implications for Thailand of the Malaysian Fisheries Act of 1985. It looks at the possibilities open to Thailand in dealing with its neighbours, all of whom are intensifying control over their 200-mile zones to the detriment of Thai distantwater fishing interests. Access to surplus resources and joint ventures are considered.

Fishes

Vulnerability of each stock in the catches from trawl fisheries in the Gulf of Thailand was assessed by productivity susceptibility analysis. Separate assessments were made based on type of trawler (otter-board, pair and beam) and vessel size (SS, S, M, L and XL, according to gross tonnage). Catches were distinctly different among trawler types and were dominated by demersal fishes, pelagic fishes and shrimps in the otter-board, pair and beam trawlers, respectively. The stocks of over 200 taxa were included in the study; high-vulnerability taxa were found for all trawl types and sizes, except the beam trawler size S. Only seven (7) taxa were classified as high vulnerability, including four (4) teleost taxa, namely Saurida elongata, Plotosus spp., Gymnothorax spp. and Sphyraena spp., and three (3) elasmobranch taxa, namely Carcharhinus spp., Brevitrygon heterura and Neotrygon kuhlii. Meanwhile, as many as 26 high-medium vulnerability taxa were found in catches by otter-board trawler ...

1986