TUNA FISH INDUSTRY IN THAILAND

Kulapa S. Kuldilok is a Lecturer in the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department,Kasetsart University,Thailand and formerly was a postgraduate student in the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (AFRD),Newcastle University,UK. John Lingard and Phil Dawson are Senior Lecturer and Reader in AFRD, Newcastle University.

Although Thailand is currently the leading tuna fish exporter in the world, this research asks whether the Thai tuna industry really sustainable. Almost all the raw tuna is imported prior to processing for re-export, and tuna stocks are known to be over-fished. This research examines the economic, environmental, and social sustainability aspects of the Thai tuna industry. There are three major parts - forecasting future tuna demand, internal and international competitiveness analysis, and sustainable livelihoods of processing workers analysis. The Thai tuna industry will not probably be environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable without substantial adjustment. The industry faces many severe problems in the near future as reflected in lower demand forecasts, lack of raw material, unprofitable fishing operations, emerging shortages of motivated, well-paid, skilled labour, and binding rules of origin and tariff restrictions. As this analysis clearly demonstrates, maintaining both tuna fishing and the processing industry in Thailand will be difficult.