With fish stock on the low, consumers are being told to brace themselves for higher fish prices this Lenten season and beyond.
As is the tradition, most people give up meat and gravitate towards seafood for Lent, but fisherfolk are saying that consumers will have to give up a lot more money in order to get the catch of the day.
In a GML interview, fishermen from the Carenage Fishing Depot and Maracas Bay said dwindling stocks and rising costs have been impacting their operations.
One fisherman said the climbing cost of fuel, oil and other materials has been driving up the price of fish.
Another fisherman, Ken Brighton Williams, said beside the gas increase, the climate now is changing.
He said: “The times when we used to hold plenty of fish, you don’t hold them again. Around Christmas we used to hold plenty of mackerel and shark, now you don’t hold them thing again. Out on the sea things get real tough.”
President of the Carli Bay Fishing Association Imtiaz Khan told the media house that the authorities need to protect the country’s nurseries, noting that waters off the Gulf of Paria had been damaged and polluted over the years.
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