Report of a bio-economic modelling workshop and a policy dialogue meeting on the Thai demersal fisheries in the Gulf of Thailand
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Similar to many marine fish stocks in Asia and elsewhere in the world, the demersal resources in the Gulf of Thailand have been subjected to excessive levels of fishing effort since perhaps as long as two to three decades. This has resulted in a change in catch composition with a higher share of short-lived species in the catch. The influence on the value of the catch is not unambiguously negative because several short-lived species including certain cephalopods and crustaceans fetch g ood prices in the market. In general, fish prices showed real increases over the last decade including so-called ‘trash-fish”, i.e. by-catches of small fishes that are converted into fishmeal. The rapid growth in feed-intensive livestock and shrimp culture production has resulted in a rapidly growing fishmeal market. However, there is certainly concern about the impact on the Gulf of Thailand ecosystem and on bio-diversity of a continuation of the very high levels of mostly indiscrim inate fishing effort, especially bottom trawling. While the immediate effect of a reduction of fishing effort could cause a decline in the quantity and value of the catch, the long-term benefit is likely to be very large. This is indicated by the findings of all three types of modelling approaches applied during this workshop, namely surplus production model (Gordon-Schaefer and Gordon-Fox), age-structured Thompson & Bell model (BEAM 5) and mass-balance eco-system model (ECOPATH).