New Tuna Vessel Launched

PHUKET: In the latest bid to maintain Thailand’s position as the world’s leading exporter of canned tuna, officials launched the country’s newest deep sea tuna fishing vessel in a ceremony last Friday at Ao Makham. Pongphon Adireksarn, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives, along with representatives of the Thai Deep Sea Tuna Fishing Cooperative, was on hand to christen the 61-meter-long Mookmanee. The 1,000-ton vessel will be used by the private cooperative to haul in an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 tons of tuna a year for shipment to processing plants in Bangkok. The Mookmanee was built in Japan at a cost of 130 million baht. It will ply the Indian Ocean and return to Phuket’s deep sea port to unload its catch. The vessel boasts a cold storage capacity of 680 tons of fish. During the ceremony, the Agriculture Minister noted that processed tuna represents a 20 billion baht export industry for Thailand and that the cooperative’s new boat will play a leading role in supplying fish for canneries that ship product to Asian and Western countries.