Close on the heels of the eu issuing fishing quotas (see Down To Earth, 'Bullied into inaction', January 31, 2005, p 10), southeast Asian nations are now trying to save their fish from unregulated fishing. To protect breeding mackerels, Thailand has imposed a ban on fishing in the Gulf of Thailand from February 15, 2005 to May 15, 2005. Fishing methods, like dragnets, trammel nets and push nets attached to boats longer than 16 metres, are banned in a 26,400 square kilometre area. Only fishing with small nets and homemade gear is allowed.
Neighbouring Indonesia, which loses nearly us $1.9 billion a year due to illegal fishing, has temporarily stopped issuing new fishing permits to ensure that they don't exceed the limits set by the un Food and Agriculture Organization . Sea supervision has also been increased.
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