Publication Code: N53
by Craig Johnson
Over the last thirty years, Thailand's coastal fishing industry has undergone remarkable growth and transition. Hovering around 300,000 tons in the early 1960s, annual production now exceeds three million tons. Fueling much of the boom, government incentives and private investment have encouraged coastal fishing fleets to expand operations, and reduce variable costs such as nets, time and labour. New technologies and increasing competition, however have created a number of pressing environmental and socio-economic concerns. First, time- and labour-saving devices (such as the trawl and the push net) have degraded many of Thailand's most productive coastal areas, disrupting valuable spawning grounds and removing juvenile species from the system. Second, commercial fishing fleets have inundated prime fishing areas, marginalizing many of the local communities that depend on the fishery as their primary source of livelihood. Third, conflicts between small-scale communities and commercial fleets (and among small-scale communities themselves) have escalated dramatically.
A central aim of this paper is to explore development and change within Thailand's coastal fishing industry, placing particular emphasis on the often adversarial relationship between small- and large-scale fisheries and the role of the Thai state. The text is organized into six sections. Section II provides a working definition for the small-scale fishing sector. It also examines the ways in which the coastal fishing industry has developed and changed in Thailand. Section III examines the causes and nature of multiple-use conflicts in Thailand's coastal fisheries. Institutional and legal factors are examined in Section IV. Section V then reviews and assesses different theories about the ways in which resource users and managers can address coastal fishing conflicts. The final section concludes the paper by proposing alternatives and recommendations.
December 1997