Fish markets wear deserted look as customers yearn for ‘local produce’

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KUWAIT CITY, June 6: As witnessed in the past days, the fish markets in Fahaheel and Sharq are still reeling in complete emptiness, waiting for the local fish to descend and return to life.

This has forced shoppers who consider the fish market an outlet and psychological comfort especially for the elderly, to move within the stands carrying different types and sizes of local and imported fish. They have been wondering who played a fast one on the market by hiding the fish stock to increase its prices until a kilo became more expensive than the price of a barrel of oil.

The daily toured the Sharq Market recently and met some owners of the stalls who confirmed that lack of cooperation by government agencies has deprived the people of Kuwait of fish, as they prevented the owners of boats and vehicles carrying imported fish from entering the market, stipulating that owners of the stalls going out to vehicles and boats to buy their fish are in a way meant to mount pressure on the people.

They stressed that none of them can buy a load of cruiser or vehicle on his own unlike the old system wherein the fish was auctioned for citizens, expatriates and owners of the stalls to participate, allowing each one to take his share. “Also, Kuwait Municipality’s inspectors do not allow the owners of imported fish vehicles to park outside the market to drop their cargo, which compels them to sell outside at cafes and neighborhoods near the market to their private customers with whom they communicate by phone, in addition to home delivery.

This unplanned behavior deprives shoppers to Sharq and Fahaheel markets of getting their needs”, they noted. The owners of stalls appealed to the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources to set a date for the fishermen of Meid and Zubaidi to fish in the economic waters to make provision for the local fish, especially as “the people of Kuwait are lovers of local Zubaidi and Meid, and the market has not met the demand for a long time.”

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