Rumours Of Corpse-eating Fish

[george]

Locals turned off seafood by rumours of corpse-eating fish

KRABI: -- Rumours that sea creatures are eating the corpses of people who died in last week's tsunamis have forced local fish sellers to stop selling seafood altogether and concentrate on freshwater fish.

Traders in Maharat Market in Thailand's southern Krabi Province said yesterday that they were completely unable to sell any prawns, squid or other seafood due to the rumours that they were feeding off the corpses of tsunami victims.

Mrs. Sucharit Boontaeng, who normally sells prawns in the market, said that she had slashed the price of prawns from Bt100 to Bt80 per kilogram, but that she still had few takers for them.

According to another fish seller, Mrs. Orana Wichitaksorn, around 30 fish sellers in the market have had to pack up shop over the past week as a result of the scare.

Chicken sellers are also having a tough time, with sales still not having picked up properly since the outbreak of avian flu last year.

Even vegetable sellers say that customers are trying to save money this year, and that sales over the New Year period have been way down on normal.

But for sellers of freshwater fish, such as Mrs. Monthira Limtam, the rumours have proved a boon.

Mrs. Monthira told reporters that over the past week her sales had increased from Bt10,000 a day to around Bt30,000.

--TNA 2005-01-03

[The_Moog]

Shellfish also fornicate and wee wee in the sea. Best not go anywhere near it and stick to eating donuts - like I do.

[ProfessorFart]

As grim as it sounds its only natural that sea creatures will eat what is there. It probably doesn't make any difference if its a corpse or a dead fosh to a hungry crab, shark, or fish.

[george]

Phangnga seafood supplies fall 90%

Ships ruined, buyers shopping elsewhere

PHANGNA: -- Seafood supplies in Takua Pa district have dropped by 90% since the Dec 26 tidal waves, says the district's fisheries office.

The big waves devastated almost 500 coastal fishing boats, 80 trawlers and more than 10 fishing piers. The district's major fishing communities, including Ban Nam Khem, Laem Pakarang, Bang Niang, were obliterated, said Pornchai Theppichai, the district's fisheries officer.

Villagers' fish breeding baskets were swept away by the waves as well.

Takua Pa is a major fish supplier for vendors and residents of Phangnga, Phuket, Trang, Krabi and Surat Thani provinces.

Normally, about 100 tonnes of fish, shrimp and squid are caught each day. Few fishing ships were now in any condition to put to sea, resulting in a decline of marine produce.

Mr Pornchai said reviving the fishing business in the district would take about six months.

He was worried about the government's compensation scheme for wave-struck fishermen, saying proposed compensation levels were unreasonably low.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said owners of small vessels wrecked by the waves would get 20,000 baht and large vessels 200,000 baht.

Small fishing boats, which ply coastal areas, cost about 80,000 baht each, while large fishing vessels cost more than one million baht, said Mr Pornchai.

The Fisheries Department has been registering fishermen who lost assets in the waves.

Some fishermen who were left untouched by the waves had resumed fishing, but many people refused to eat fish caught in Phangnga.

``Consumers and merchants are afraid that fish, shrimp and squid have eaten the remains of tsunami victims swept out to sea. So they are buying fish from nearby provinces instead,'' he said.

Montha Sukamkaew, a fish merchant at a fresh market in Takua Pa, said she usually sold up to 300 kilogrammes of seafood a day, but currently was selling less than 100kg.

After the tsunami, fish vendors had to buy fish from nearby Kura Buri district or other provinces, such as Surat Thani on the Gulf of Thailand.

Chalee Klatha-le, 32, a coastal fisherman from Ban Nam Khem, said local fisherman could catch up to 20kg a day, worth about 1,000 baht. Mr Chalee's 80,000-baht fishing boat was destroyed by the waves.

The government should move quickly to pay compensation because January was the start of the fishing season, he said.

``The Andaman sea is probably teeming because thousands of fishing boats have stopped fishing in the past two weeks,'' he said.

--Bangkok Post 2005-01-10

[chingy_]

its all in nature, we are not god