Volatile weather conditions in coastal areas and political instability in neighboring Yemen have caused the price of fish across the Kingdom to surge by more than 70 percent in the last couple of days.

The southern Red Sea city of Jazan and the coastal urban area of Qatif in the Eastern province, major harbors for fish supplies into the Kingdom, are experiencing poor catches due to adverse weather conditions. Sailing has been prohibited as a precautionary measure in light of the rains and strong winds in the Arabian Sea.

The fish market in Qatif is one of the largest in the Middle East.

“We haven’t been out to sea for four days and expect to wait another three days while the winds subside,” said Shoukat Kokkad, a leading fisheries trader who has worked in the Qatif fish market for over two decades. “Rains in Oman and volatile weather conditions in the United Arab Emirates have exacerbated the shortage of fish supplies.”

“Our fish market typically receives on average 40 truckloads of fish per day, but nowadays, we get a maximum of eight trucks if we’re lucky,” he said.

Matters in Jazan are no different.

“We were only allowed to resume sailing on Sunday by coast guards after a three-day ban,” said Faisal P., a veteran fish trader in Jazan. “Adverse weather conditions have subsided but our catch remains poor due to the plummeting water temperature.”

“We used to catch around 3,000 boxes of fish every day, but we now rake in little more than 400 boxes,” he said.

“Jazan fish traders used to import at least 100 tons of fish per day from Yemen, but political instability has since caused a virtual halt in imports,” he said. “Yemen is also going through a shortage of diesel supplies, hampering the operational capacity of boats.”

The “baaga” type of fish, usually available in abundance during this season, was sold for SR60 per box four days ago, but is since being sold for up to SR200 a box, according to traders in Jazan. The prices of other breeds of fish are also on a similar upward trend.

Fish production from the Red Sea accounts for less than 50 percent of overall production even though the Red Sea border constitutes 79 percent of the total Saudi coastal area.