Hot weather keeps boats off the sea
Fish haul is beginning to drop, fishermen say, signalling the days of the low fishing season because of the soaring temperature and humidity.
Weekend catch of popular hamour and safi has dropped by 20 to 30 per cent and might go further down the coming weeks. Maximum temperature soared to 43 degrees Celsius over the past few days.
The number of banoush (big fishing boats) going to the deep sea has also gone down by as much as 50 per cent as fishermen decided against deep sea fishing. "We are seeing a drop in the catch because of the hot weather. This is just the beginning because by mid-August we expect the haul will drop significantly," Jassim Al Jiran of the Bahrain Fishermen Society told the Tribune. "Many big boats have stopped deep sea fishing." Most fishing in the past week was done by small boats.
The dwindling supply is expected to push fish prices in the next few weeks. Shrimp catch has been moderate. Hamour sold at BD4 per kilo at the markets compared with BD3-2.5 during a season of good catch.
Shrimping resumed on July 15. The second half of July and August usually see a big slump in fish catch because of the hot weather.
© Bahrain Tribune 2007
