Government has dropped fines for illegal fish and prawn ponds to Ks 30,000 per acre

The government has dropped the K1 million fine for illegal fish and prawn ponds to K30,000. Paying the fine will make the ponds legal, according to Dr. Aung Thu, Union Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.

He remarked on the subject during a seminar on the development of the fish farming industry, held at the Myanmar Fisheries Federation in Yangon in February.

 “We have decided to impose a fine of only K30,000 on illegal fish breeding ponds that already exist. If you want to have a new fish or prawn breeding ponds, you will need to apply for a permit at the fisheries department,” he said.

In October 2018, the Mandalay Regional Government announced that it will fine fishery ponds built on farmland an amount equal to one million kyats, but Dr. Aung Thu promised that he will help negotiate between the two parties: fish breeders and the regional governments.

According to the procedure, only the union level farmland management committee steered by the union minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, has the authority to impose fine.

“I really appreciate that the Union Minister has negotiated for us with the other regions and state governments in this regard. Thanks to this kind of support from the government we believe that fish and prawn farming will develop in the future,” said U Win Kyaing, the General Secretary of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation.

Around 7,000 acres of fish breeding ponds are built on farmland in Mandalay Region, according to the experts.

There are about 490,000 acres of fish and prawn breeding farms across the country, og which, more than 200,000 acres are for fish farms, with approximately 2,000 acres of crab farms, and more than 200,000 acres of prawn farms, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation.

In addition, local farmers will have to apply for permission if they want to use the farmland for other purposes besides agriculture. If local farmers construct buildings or establish other kinds of business on farmland, they will have to pay 30 percent of the market value of land as tax.

(Myanmar Business Today: https://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/fines-illegal-fish-and-prawn-ponds-drops-k30000-acre )

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