Pandemic-hit raft fishermen expect to resume operations at end of September

By DMG 07 Sep 2021

DMG Newsroom
7 September 2021, Sittwe 

Raft-fishing businesses in Arakan State, which have been hit hard by both the second and third waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, are expected to restart operations at the end of this month. 

As many as 30 workers are employed to work on a bamboo fishing raft, and the raft-fishing business was severely hampered by the Covid-19 outbreak and a related ban on public gatherings. 

During the pandemic, raft-fishing businesses also suffered financial losses due to low fish and shrimp prices, and some businesses closed down, according to raft-fishing business operators. 

Adding to the difficulties, raft-fishing businessman U Kyaw Aye in Lay Taung town said: “The government announced a ban on public gatherings, which is very difficult for our business. The fishermen have been suffering financial losses for more than two years and are struggling to make ends meet because they have not been able to do business.” 

Raft-fishing businesses will likely face more hardships if they cannot start operations in the new fishing season, said U Ngwe Min Kyaw, a raft-fishing operator in Lay Taung. 

“Fishermen lost a month’s income because they could not go out to sea in September last year, and fish prices fell. We pray daily that this will not happen again this year,” he said. 

The cost of a bamboo fishing raft can be as high as K10 million, and raft-fishing operators are worried that if fish prices remain low, they will suffer further financial losses amid high fuel prices as well as rising costs for business equipment. 

Raft-fishing businesses and the workers they employ are concentrated in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township; there are over 350 fishing rafts in Manaung and Thandwe townships, and Lay Taung town in Ramree Township.