Roundup: 50,000 Myanmar migrant workers quit Thai fishing jobs for home

An estimated 50,000 Myanmar workers in fishing industry in central Thailand have called it quits and returned home while many more are believed to follow suit sooner or later.

The migrant workers including those who had been employed and stayed in Thailand for many years have decided to return home and would not come back for jobs in this country anymore, Kamjorn Mongkoltreeluck, head of a fishery association in Samut Sakorn province, said on Friday.

Samut Sakorn, about 35 kilometers southwest of Bangkok, houses Thailand's largest fishing, frozen seafood and food processing industry.

Myanmar migrants have been mostly hired as workers in fishing and food processing industry, unskilled laborers in construction sector and home maids.

Kamjorn said a large number of Myanmar migrants have begun to call it quits from fishing boats, many of which had been anchored ashore for lack of operating licenses or monitoring equipment which might otherwise violate the Fisheries Department's regulations or might be accused by the European Union of doing the Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing business.

The department's regulations also call for the fishing boats to sail out to sea for a maximum of 220 days in a year, given the rest of 145 days on shore.

The EU, which had bought some 500 million U.S. dollars in fishery products from Thailand in a year, called on the Thai authorities to see to it that no migrants or under-aged workers be illegally employed or abused aboard Thai trawlers. Neither will the fishing boats or skippers operate without licenses.

"Given the IUU charges which the Thai fishing industry is facing, a number of trawlers had to stay ashore, pending the installation of required equipment, issuing of operating licenses and others," he said.

"That has finally prompted many Myanmar crewmembers to leave for their home country and they would not come back for the jobs which they have just quit."

Samut Sakorn's fishing industry, either at sea or on shore, will very likely be adversely affected by lack of migrant workers, the fishery association head commented.

Thailand has reportedly harbored as many as two million Myanmar migrants, who may have been either legally or illegally employed in Bangkok's outlying areas including Samut Sakorn.

Many more Myanmar migrants might probably give up on their jobs in Samut Sakorn or elsewhere in Thailand and return home sooner or later, following an estimated 50,000 workers who already did, he said.

A newly-formed government in Naypyidaw is said to be taking steps to promote investment projects in Myanmar's construction and tourism sectors which will need a large number of employees. Those migrant workers who have departed from Thailand would prefer to look for jobs inside Myanmar instead. Endit