January 11, 2005

 

 

Asian Seafood Demand Dips From Fears Post-Tsunami

 

Fishermen, having outlived the tsunami, now face another threat to their survival: ignorance. It has bred a fear that has swept across Asia: from Singapore to Sri Lanka, Malaysia to Hong Kong, and Thailand to Tamil Nadu in India.

 

The fear: fish, crabs and prawns in the Indian Ocean are now feeding off untold number of bodies washed out to sea and they will pass diseases and bacteria from the decaying bodies to those who eat the seafood.

 

Governments, religious leaders and marine experts have been swift in dismissing the wild rumour which, like any urban legend, continues to have a stranglehold on people.

 

Prices of fish and seafood have plunged in many countries. Worst-hit are Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu where fish markets, virtually deserted, are selling seafood at one-tenth of what they cost 10 days ago. Still there are no takers.

 

Though less severe, prices in Singapore have dropped by as much as half, said fishmongers at Chinatown and Tekka markets.

 

'Now the first thing my customers ask is where my fish comes from,' said Mr Leong Kong Meng, 65, whose business is down 30 per cent.

 

Even the assurance that supplies are from non-tsunami places, such as Johor, Jakarta and Bangkok, has failed to convince two-thirds of the 15 customers at the two markets. The fear is not peculiar to Singapore.

 

In Thailand's southern Krabi Province, traders in Maharat Market are unable to sell any fish, crabs and prawns, as well as molluscs like clams and squid. Prawn-seller Sucharit Boontaeng has slashed prices from 100 baht (S$4.20) to 80 baht per kg. Still few buyers remain. 

 

In Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, the main fish wholesale market is deserted while supermarkets are selling only canned tuna, salmon and mackerel imported from South American states.

 

In Hong Kong, the fear was compounded by the territory's health chiefs, who warned the public not to buy seafood from tsunami-hit countries as they may be contaminated by pollutants stirred by the waves.

 

But the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean are vast and deep, so contaminants, such as heavy metals or waste materials washed into the sea, would have been diluted by the sea movement, said Associate Professor Peter Ng, a crustacean expert and director of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore.

 

Countries have meanwhile taken up action to test these fears.

 

In Malaysia, probe teams have been dispatched to the tsunami-stricken areas of Kedah and Penang to test samples of fish and other foods.

 

'We found no indication of contamination,' said disease control chief Ramlee Rahmat.

 

Its Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal has also pointed out that fish and seafood supplies are mostly from the country's east coast, Sabah and Sarawak, as well as countries such as Vietnam.

 

In giving the assurance, he also made a plea: 'Please do not listen to such rumours. It will only jeopardise the only source of income for our fishermen.'

 

In India, a team of marine biologists assembled by the National Union of Fishermen has found no evidence of the 'zulican' virus, which can cause pneumonia, cholera and typhoid - a finding confirmed by the federal Institute of Fisheries Technology.

 

In Singapore, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority said most seafood supplies are from non-tsunami areas: Johor, Selangor and Perak in Malaysia, Batam, Bintan and Jakarta in Indonesia, Hat Yai and Bangkok in Thailand, Bombay and Calcutta in India.

 

Although 5 per cent of the 80,000 tonnes of fish Singapore imports a year are from the tsunami-hit areas, the supply has stopped since Dec 26 when their fishing industries were destroyed, said Mr Kenneth Lim, chairman of the Senoko Fishing Port.

 

Rather, the churning sea has brought a boom in the amount of food available for the fish, such as micro-organisms, plankton, plants and other dead fish.

 

'So the fish and crabs have plenty of their usual food supply and don't have to resort to eating dead human flesh,' said Prof Ng. If they, in the unlikely eventuality, feed off corpses, there is no health and safety issue, said AVA.

 

The reason boils down to a fact of science: Any human tissues nibbled off by scavengers, such as crabs and prawns, would be digested and absorbed to form part of the animals' own tissue.

 

Yet, others have profited from the woes of these fisherfolk.

 

Fishermen from Japan, Europe, the United States and Australia are picking up the slack from their Asian counterparts as have farmers of freshwater fish and chicken.

 

Business among chicken and cold-water seafood sellers have purportedly risen by as much as 30 per cent.

 

In Singapore

• Prices have dropped by as much as half.
  
  
• Fishmongers' business is down 30 per cent.
  
  
• AVA says most seafood supplies now come from non-tsunami areas. Supply from tsunami-hit areas has stopped.  

In Malaysia

• Teams test samples of fish from tsunami-stricken areas of Kedah and Penang - no contamination found.
  
  
• Fish and seafood supplies come mostly from Sabah and Sarawak.  

In Thailand

• Traders in Maharat Market, in Krabi, can't sell any fish or crabs or molluscs like clams and squid.
  
  
• Fishmongers stop selling seafood and now concentrate on freshwater fish. 

In India

• Marine biologists find no evidence of the 'zulican virus' which can cause pneumonia, cholera and typhoid.
  
  
• But media reports and rumours are still on people's minds.  

In Sri Lanka

• Fish markets are virtually deserted.
  
  
• Seafood costs one-tenth of previous price.
  
  
• Main Colombo fish retail market deserted.
  
  
• Supermarkets sell only imported canned tuna, salmon and mackerel.  

In Hong Kong

• Health chiefs warn the public not to buy seafood from tsunami-hit countries.
  
  
• Authorities fear fish may have eaten heavy metals and pollutants stirred up by the seismic movements.