Governor Banyat Chanthasena was not available yesterday to meet the protesters who said the order had put them out of work.

They demanded the government revoke the ban or find other occupations for them and other people in related industries.

Agriculture Minister Pongpol Adireksarn instructed provincial authorities to impose the ban last month following a protest by inshore fishermen who blocked Songkhla Bay with a flotilla of 300 boats.

The order, which took effect last Friday, drew a similar protest by more than 100 anchovy purse seiners. However, the protest did not get the support of the small-scale anchovy fishermen.

Yawahed Hamadu, a leader of small-scale anchovy fishermen from Chana district, said the protesting purse seiners were "outsiders".

He accused the purse seiners of destroying other economic fish species with their destructive and indiscriminate fishing method.

Small-scale anchovy fishing boats, on the other hand, were much less destructive and should be allowed to continue fishing, he said, because they fished within five kilometres from the shore, had much less capacity than the purse seiners, and fished only between May and October.

Mr Yawahed said talks would be held among the purse seiners, inshore fishermen and his group to try to find solutions acceptable to all parties.

If the government refused to lift the ban, Mr Yawahed said, it should compensate small fishermen for their investment.