Project Information
- Category: Research on Bottom Trawl Fishery and Thai-Myanmar Border Trade.
- Orgnization:MSAM,Trawl Owners,Fishermen, DOF
- Project date: 01 March, 2022 to 31 March 2023
- Fund by: Oak Foundation, Fauna & Flora International.
Project detail
Myanmar and Thailand have a strong commercial relationship, made of significant flows of import/export in both directions. This is even more significant for Myanmar’s southern regions that share a border with Thailand; in these regions, natural resources are often sold to Thailand and manufactured goods are imported into Myanmar. Among these, fisheries products, which are largely caught through bottom trawling and which represent a key commercial sector in the region of Tanintharyi, are one of the main goods traded through the shared border, driven by the large seafood processing industry in the Thai region of Ranong, which is thought to purchase up to 95% of the seafood caught in Tanintharyi’s waters (source: Myanmar Fisheries Federation). Myanmar and Thailand have a strong commercial relationship, made of significant flows of import/export in both directions. This is even more significant for Myanmar’s southern regions that share a border with Thailand; in these regions, natural resources are often sold to Thailand and manufactured goods are imported into Myanmar. Among these, fisheries products, which are largely caught through bottom trawling and which represent a key commercial sector in the region of Tanintharyi, are one of the main goods traded through the shared border, driven by the large seafood processing industry in the Thai region of Ranong, which is thought to purchase up to 95% of the seafood caught in Tanintharyi’s waters (source: Myanmar Fisheries Federation).
The research objective, the project team visited monthly, started from January 2022, to the Thai and Myanmar border trade city, Kawthaung, and undertook research on the trawl fisheries and seafood border trade in collaboration with the Myanmar Department of Fisheries. The research team recorded the data regarding the trawler fishing grounds, catch composition, the trading price and the voices of the stakeholders.