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Their catch would be turned into protein-rich fishmeal that gets fed to chickens, pigs and aquaculture fish.

The impact of the Thai fishmeal fleet was “catastrophic” to the Saya de Mahla Bank, according to researchers from Monaco Explorations.

The Thai fishmeal trawlers have continued to return annually to the Saya de Malha Bank but typically with fewer vessels than in 2015.

In 2016, six Cambodian crew members died from beriberi, a preventable disease, onboard a Thai fishmeal trawler.

In 2015, more than 50 Thai fishing vessels, primarily bottom trawlers, descended on the Saya de Malha Bank to drag their nets over the ocean floor and scoop up brushtooth lizardfish and round scad, much of which was transported back to shore to be ground into fishmeal.