The Report on Baseline Survey on Fishing Effort and Landing in the Southwestern Gulf of Thailand

Abstract

A baseline survey on fishing efforts and landing in the Southwestern Gulf of Thailand is an activity under the title of 'Strengthening Malaysian and Thai Partnership in support of Joint Fisheries Planning and Management in the Western Gulf of Thailand' which was implemented from July 2014 to December 2015. Its aim is to gather preliminary information on fishing efforts (vessels, gear, and people) and landing of catch, which would be used as basis to improve the monitoring and control of fishing activities. In addition, the survey hopes to serve as a medium through local teams can participate, thus strengthening the cooperation between Thailand and Malaysia. Designed by teams from both countries, the questionnaire on baseline survey covers important information on vessels name, vessels registration number, vessels owner name, specification symbol of vessels, type of vessels, port of registry, size of vessels, engine power, VMS system in the vessels, fishing area, nationality of vessels, history of vessels, nationality of captain/ master, number and nationality of crew through fishing operation and fish landing information such as fishing operation, major target species, landing port, and supply. The targeted area for the survey consists of three provinces in Thailand: Pattani, Songkhla, and Narathiwat; and three states in Malaysia: Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang. These areas were selected due to their close proximity to the border, opening the possibility of having a joint venture fishing arrangement between both countries. The actual total number of questionnaire from survey in Thailand and Malaysia is 409 and 459 samples respectively.