Economics and Management of Thai Marine Fisheries

摘要

While still an economically developing country, Thailand possesses a commercial fishery comparable to those of the economically developed nations. The Thai fishing industry, one of the world's ten largest, with a fleet of over 20,000 modern vessels and a catch of about 2 million tons annually, supplies 20 kg of fish per capita to a population of 50 million and earns the country half a billion dollars in foreign exchange annually. However, Thailand's fishery management capabilities continue to be those of a developing country. The study documents the profitability of the trawl fishing, the poverty of small-scale fishermen, the heavy overfishing of the Gulf of Thailand, and the discrepancy between the catching power of the Thai fishing industry and the management and enforcement capabilities of Thailand and its neighbors.