An illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) boat with eight Thais on board has been seized in Thai waters off Phuket, Vice Admiral Ronnapop Karnjanapan of the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command announced yesterday (Sept 15).
V/Adm Ronnapop, who also serves as the Director of Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Center (Thai-MECC), announced the seizure at press conference held at the Third Area Command at Cape Panwa.
Also present for the announcement were Sakorn Poodam of the Phuket Marine Office and Wichit Police Chief Col Nikorn Somsuk.
V/Adm Ronnapop explained that a boat was reported as entering Thai waters last Thursday (Sept 12), but the Phuket Marine Office had not been informed of the boat’s arrival and its Automatic Identification System (AIS), as required by Thai law, was turned off, leaving Fisheries Monitoring Center (FMC) officers unable to identify it.
Thai-MECC ordered the Third Naval Area Command to inform relevant officers to follow the suspected boat, V/Adm Ronnapop said.
On Friday (Sept 13), the boat turned on its AIS, allowing officers at the Phuket Port in-Port out Control Center (PIPO) to identify it as the Uthaiwan.
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