Panel hears bribery rife in fish industry
The Command Centre for Combating Illegal Fishing has set up a panel to look into complaints accusing some officials of demanding bribes from trawler operators. Centre deputy head Vice Admiral Wannapol Glormgeao said Tuesday the centre recently received a number of complaints from anchovy trawler operators. The operators say they had to pay around 5,000 to 300,000 baht per month per trawler to some officials at the centre to allow them to send vessels of less than 30 tons on a fishing voyage. According to the law, V Adm Wannapol said trawlers that weigh less than 30 gross tons are not required to conduct Port In-Port Out reports to authorities but should be inspected for any illegal fishing gear.
