PUBLISHED: 14 Feb 2025 at 04: 00
According to the Department of Fishery ( DoF ), a fishing ban has been imposed to allow the fish stock to recover from Prachuap Khiri Khan’s coast to Surat Thani.
Multiple maritime areas are impacted by the ban, which is enforced over two intervals, from February 15 to May 15 and from May 16 to June 14.
The second period extends from Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Laem Monglai to Surat Thani’s Don Sak area. Areas from the edge of Laem Monglai to the Hua Hin area, which is also in Prachuap Khiri Khan, are in the next period.
During a meeting presided over by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Akkhara Prompow on Thursday, the ban was made known in the Muang city of Chumphon, a county located between Prachuap Khiri Khan and Surat Thani.
To increase the marine life investment in the area, fish and shrimp fledglings were released into the water at the service.
Bancha Sukkaew, the director-general of DoF, said the moratorium is necessary for the Gulf of Thailand’s annual replenishment of fish stocks. The restrictions allows for the spawning of fish, and it is anticipated to help with food safety as well as the fish stock and the fish market that depend on it.
He added that state authorities had assisted in getting fishermen and the general public aware that the need to implement the yearly ban.
He even cited a study that showed that child mackerels off the shores of Prachuap Khiri Khan and Surat Thani are at their peak breeding season from Saturday to May 15.
The hatchlings then migrate to a deeper water to develop into adult seafood, he said.
According to Mr. Bancha, the fish ban is implemented in accordance with four administrative regulations that were passed following public hearings attended by academics, seafood traders, and fishermen.
Before being implemented, he continued, experts from both inside and outside the DoF reviewed the laws.
He even warned that when the restrictions is not in effect, the technology that anglers use to catch fish, including baskets, must meet the legal requirements.
Violators of the fish ban face a fine of between 5, 000 and 30 million ringgit, depending in the size of the fish warships, or up to times the value of the fish pull, he added.