Chon Buri: Most consumers here have yet to feel the pinch of an ongoing strike by unauthorised fishing trawlers, saying the prices of their seafood purchases remain, more or less, the same.
And a random survey by the Bangkok Post of the retail price of seafood products in this coastal province suggests they may be right.
A 60-year-old resident of Bang Na district of Bangkok, who frequently visited seafood restaurants in tambon Ang Sila of Chon Buri's Muang district, shrugged off media reports about higher prices or even shortages of seafood that may come as a consequence of the strike.
The consumer, who preferred to be named only as Bird, said he doesn't worry about such problems because legal fishing trawlers and small fishing boats could still go about their usual business, bringing in seafood catches.
He said seafood prices largely depend on market mechanisms and even if they rise too high for him sometimes, he will simply switch to other types of food for a while.
Somjet Wechpanyadamrong, 30, a resident of Bangkok's Min Buri district, said he isn't worried about the strike either, because the prices of most of the seafood he regularly buys have not gone up significantly, and he thinks he can afford the new prices.
These slightly higher prices normally occur during monsoon periods so are nothing new, he said.
He suggested the government organise events to allow good quality seafood to be sold directly by fishing operators to consumers in Bangkok and other tourist districts.
He said this measure should help prevent shortages of seafood and the problem of seafood prices being marked up by middleman traders who may exploit the strike as a way to quote unreasonably higher prices.
At Chon Buri's Ang Sila fishing wharf, an unnamed seafood vendor said all the regular types of seafood are still available because the legal fishing boats can go out to sea as usual.
The volume of seafood might have decreased slightly since the trawler strike, resulting in a slight increase in prices, said the vendor.
Ampan Hirithammakul, a fisherman in tambon Bang Pla Soi who observes a conventional method of fishing by using a small-sized boat and fishing not far from the shore, said multiple middleman vendors were causing prices to rise several times higher than the prices at which they bought the seafood from fishermen at the wharf.
The strike actually helped conventional fishermen who go out to sea and return with seafood daily, he said, adding those vendors were now queuing up to buy seafood from them and some had even begun offering to buy it at a higher price.
Sama-ae Jemudo, president of the Fisherfolk Assembly of Thailand, said the group had come up with a programme to ensure better distribution of seafood at fair prices to consumers during times when unauthorised fishing trawlers refuse to go out to sea.
Saowalak Prathumthong is the manager of Khon Jab Pla (fish catchers), a two-year old seafood wholesale business run by fishing operator groups in several provinces.
She said the direct sale of seafood from fishermen to consumers had proven to be successful in increasing income for operators while at the same time ensuring consumers get good quality, clean seafood at reasonable prices.
Over the past two years in this business, she said, Khon Jab Pla has had received steady orders from customers who come to buy fresh seafood at a market in Soi Thong Lor 3 in Bangkok every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The only significant condition imposed on members of Khon Jab Pla is they have to use environmentally-friendly fishing equipment, she said.
The poor logistical systems of seafood transport chains have long been a major set of problems causing contaminated and expensive seafood, she said.