Asia''s Tsunami disaster has had a devastating impact in the area. Fishermen from some affected countries such as Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand have witnessed a decline in their catch report.
According to a preliminary study by Japanese scientist, some of the most evident effects are the great shoal dispersion, the mortality of species in areas close to the epicentre, the loss of fishing vessels and the whole devastation of villages and small towns dedicated to the extraction and fishing of marine species.
Sales down
In addition, the trading market has also been hit. Consumers are not buying seafood from the affected areas fearing that the larger fish may hay have been feeding on human corpses washed out by the tidal waves.
FIS reports that in Hong Kong, the governent has urged residents to refrain from consuming seafood from the area and the city's health authority called on traders to stop importing seafood from South Asian countries.
The argument was that fish may have ingested heavy metal stirred up from the seabed by the seism.
However, experts have said that the impact on fish was not substantial.
On the other hand, Thailand's fishing and processing sector is urging consumers to eat seafood.
The Thai Overseas Fisheries Association said that over 50 per cent of Thai-consumed seafood comes from the deep ocean.
The Public Health Ministry's Department confirmed that most fish and shellfish do not feed on corpses.
The director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Lee Jong-Wook said that fish being caught off the tsunami-battered Sri Lankan coast was safe to eat and urged locals to eat fish.
"The World Health Organisation alays encourages people to eat fish, it is a good source of safe protein."
Vessel donations
Many fishing communities in South East Asia and East Africa have been forced to suspend fishing operations due to widespread damage, which caused the destruction of needed infrastructure, including boats. Some EU countries like Spain and the UK have already offered to donate some fishing vessels for fishermen to resume fishing. These are vessels due to be scrapped as part of the EU's fleet reduction capacity programme. EU's authorities are studying the proposal.
Norway has also offered to donate vessels. At least 220,000 people died in the 12 countries struck by the Tsunami on December 26 and many others are still missing.
