Over Half Of Phuket Trawlers In Port Due To High Oil Prices

Over half of Phuket trawlers in port due to high oil prices

PHUKET: -- More than half of the estimated total of 300 fishing trawlers in Thailand's southern resort province of Phuket have been forced to stay in port, moored and out-of-action, due to surge in oil prices, Phuket Fishery Association President Somyos Vongbunyakul said Tuesday.

However, Mr. Somyos said the group had no intention to protest or demand government help since they realised the current domestic oil price hike was the result of world oil prices rocketing.

The group is well aware that the government had tried its best to lessen the effects the trawlers had suffered. One among various measures is providing diesel at cheaper price than that at retail gas stations, he said.

Earlier, local fishermen in another southern province of Surat Thani called for the government to bail them out of imminent bankruptcy due to high oil prices and demanded the right to buy cheaper diesel that the authorities have sold to larger vessels.

The small-scale fisheries industry, supporting thousands of families in the province, is tied up at the docks, 'dead in the water,' moored because the ship operators cannot afford the high-priced fuel.

--TNA 2006-04-26