EU keeps sanctions threat on Thai seafood

The 28-nation EU is keeping up the pressure because even some Thai legislation enacted last year to curb illegal practices was not sufficiently followed up by action over the past months, two EU officials with knowledge of the ongoing talks said.

In addition to freeing more than 2,000 slaves, the reporting resulted in the arrest of a dozen alleged traffickers, the seizing of millions of dollars’ worth of seafood and vessels, several lawsuits, and legal actions by governments and corporations.

EU officials have said that the slavery and labor issues are intimately intertwined with the illegal fishing industry, and that a cleanup of the sector will automatically also have an impact on the labor situation.

The news that Thailand would continue to work under what is called a yellow-card threat came Thursday as the EU Commission was assessing other nations from across the world whether they would be punished for unsustainable fishing that further weakens threatened fish stocks or whether reforms in some nations would result in lifting the threat of sanctions.