Singed by fuel price, Trang fishing boat owners berth their trawlers
Owners of fishing boats in Trang province have gradually berthed their fleet after the retail price of diesel oil reached THB32 per litre.
A survey by The Nation found that more than half of the fishing boats operating from the Yimsia fishing pier in Trang’s Kantang district had stopped going out to the sea as the owners could not bear the fuel costs.
Subin Ketrat, who owns a fleet of trawlers, said that commercial fishing boat owners were in trouble due to the rise in diesel price, because each fishing trip by their fleet consumed a lot of fuel.
Subin said he has four commercial fishing trawlers and 13 smaller boats with lighting bulbs to attract fish to be caught by the trawls.
For each trip, he deploys a fishing boat and three lighting boats. Each trip would require about 25,000 litres of diesel, so fuel cost for each trip would amount to THB800,000, excluding the cost of ice, foods for fishing crew and wages.
He said each boat is manned by some 30 workers and he has to pay the wages in advance.
Subin said he had to berth half of his fishing boats, like other owners, because of the high fuel cost.
Even worse, Subin said the catches did not fetch a good price because it seemed consumers do not have much buying power.
Some fishing crew said they fear that their employers would be out of business and they would lose their jobs.
A fish vendor also complained that fishing boats did not return with enough fish for her to buy for reselling in Pattani like she used to earlier. She said she has concerns that fishing boat owners might stop their business because of the rising oil prices.
