The flames of prices make fish disappear from the tables of poor families in the coastal Shaqra
English - Sunday 29 August 2021 الساعة 03:33 pm
Abyan, NewsYemen, Private:
The prices of fish in Abyan Governorate, southern Yemen, have risen to record levels, which most citizens have been unable to keep up with.
The head of the Shaqra Youth Cooperative Fish Association, Abdullah Al-Dakhn, explained the reasons for the rise, as being the result of the rise in fuel and the collapse of the currency, which caused a rise in fishing equipment such as engines, nets and others.
Salah Abdullah, a fish dealer in the coastal forests of Shaqra, confirmed to NewsYemen the reluctance of citizens to buy fish after the prices of the three most important types, "beads, emeralds and zeinob", increased, which exceeded the price of a kilo to 6,000 riyals.
The head of the mother Shaqra Fisheries Cooperative Society, Madian Al-Asi, refuted a number of reasons that helped to raise fish prices, including the advent of the wind season during the period from May to September, the monopoly of marketing fish locally on the individual sector, and the failure to activate the cooperative sectors. And public and investment activities in marketing fish locally, and the rise in fuel prices and the value of boats and fishing equipment, in addition to the depreciation of the local currency, which increased the export demand for specific types of commercial fish.
Salem Bakri believes that the high temperatures in the early summer prevent fish from being collected because of its death, if it is collected in high temperatures, so that fishermen harvest a small percentage of fish at dawn before sunrise, adding, as for the market is governed by supply and demand. He stressed that the customer and the retailer are the ones who raise the prices of fish, and it is in the hands of consumers to stop this farce.
Dealers in marine fishing operations justified the high prices due to a strong wind wave that hit the sea coasts, where most of the fishing areas are located.
Activists stressed that the absence of the government's oversight role is the reason for the increase in fish and its absence from the tables of poor families, who expressed discontent and complaints due to the escalating rise in light of the complete absence of the role of government agencies concerned with monitoring, inspection, controlling and holding fishmongers who manipulate their prices.
Activists called on citizens to carry out a popular campaign to boycott the purchase of fish in general for a period of at least two weeks, which they considered sufficient time to satisfy what they described as the fish mafia, in order to reduce their prices.
