Fish vendors decry hike in fish prices amid covid-19

In an interview with The Point, many vendors especially women explained that the increase in the price of fishes is caused by less fishing activities as government put in measures to curb the spread of the covid-19 pandemic.

Salimatou Ceesay, one of the fish vendors in Gunjur, told our reporter that the normal price of fish per basket has increased, saying that never happened before the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic.

“I can tell you that the entire fishing industry is affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Imagine a basket of fish is now sold for D1,300 and in other landings sites, it costs more than that,” she complained.

The desperate vendor continued that many fishing boats have stopped going fishing because of government covid-19 restrictions. She added that due to that, there is always less supply of fish in the market.

“We really face some challenges dealing with our customers but we have no choice than to sell at high prices due to the increase in fish basket prices,” she said.

Ebrima Joof, a fisherman at Tanjai Fish Landing Site, also stated that the covid-19 pandemic and the current surge in positive cases have forced many fisher folks to limit fishing activities.

“Before the pandemic, we used to have many fishing vessels in the sea that would make a huge supply of fishes in the local market. But with the outbreak of the virus including government restrictions, few boats are now engaging in fishing,” he revealed.  

He indicated that the Senegalese fishermen who went to their country for the past Eidul-Adha (‘tobaski’) couldn’t return due to the border closure, adding that contributed to the increase of fish prices.