"Yet despite high-profile commitments by the Thai government to clean up the fishing industry, problems are rampant," he added in a statement. The world's third largest seafood exporter, Thailand's fishing industry employs more than 300,000 people, many of them migrant workers from neighbouring countries. The Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation, a Thai advocacy group that supports migrant fishermen, said reforms introduced by the government often are not enforced by local officials. More than a third of migrant fishermen in Thailand were victims of trafficking, according to a study of 260 fishermen by anti-trafficking group the International Justice Mission last year. The study found three-quarters of migrants working on Thai fishing vessels have been in debt bondage and work at least 16 hours a day.

Source: Bangkok Post January 23, 2018 20:37 UTC