Fishing boats anchored idle on the muddy sands of Thailand’s coastal deep in south and their owners look on helplessly. In southern Pattala and Yala provinces tr4aditional fishing was a thriving industry, which has now been reduced to niche activity as fishermen lose out to large commercial firms and soaring fuel prices. One Pattani fisherman, Ramly, 47, says he cannot afford to take his boat out to sea and is forced to resell bags of shrimp caught by commercial operators to feed his five children.
Expert says that commercial fishing fuels the woes in these villages. He also said that the large operations fish the waters illegally using nets small enough to steal the catch that locals would otherwise claim. These companies even employ cheap labours form outside which only adds to the tensions in the region. It is said that the commercial operations not only squeeze out Thai fishermen, forcing them to leave for work in Malaysia, but also lead to huge influxes of cheap foreign labour from neighbouring countries.
According to experts this leads to tensions as coastal villagers increasingly find their way of life under threat. Sukree Hajisamae, a fisheries expert with the department of science at Prince Songkla University in Pattani, opined that about 70 to 80 percent of labourers on the (commercial) fishing boats are from Myanmar and Cambodia. The southern border association in Yala has a project to financially support the fishermen. Experts said that there is a need to refocus the fishing industry in the right direction with someone willing to start now, with new policies.
