Four fishermen involved in a clash with authorities back in 2019, where fishers ganged up to against officers to release a suspect and a boat full of shellfish the officers seized, have been sentenced to a year in jail. The fishermen were found guilty of operating a cockle farm illegally and violently threatening officers which led to the escape of a suspect.
The local fishers were harvesting shellfish illegally in the southern province Nakhon Si Thammarat. Reports in Thai media say the fishers had support from an “influential person” in the province who supported the illegal acitivites.
A few years ago, the coastal areas in the south along the Gulf of Thailand had a problem with cockle farmers illegally occupying large areas of bays, which were under public domain. So-called “influential figures” had reportedly laid claim to areas of the sea and then leased or “sold”…
