JEDDAH: Qunfuda residents are complaining about high prices of fish and the shortages in fresh fish supplies since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

Residents said the price of one kilo of Nile perch used to range between SR25 and SR45, but now its prices spiked to SR70 per kilo, while a kilo of grouper ranges between SR15-65.

The Qunfuda markets used to be filled with all kinds of fish, but now there is a shortage in supplies because of sales to markets outside of the province where vendors get higher prices. A number of fishermen and citizens pointed a finger at the Fishermen’s Cooperative Society in the province, accusing it of taking advantage of the facilities the society gets from the state, like a quay for fishermen at a cost of more than SR78 million, and providing them with fishing boats.

They said the quay should serve citizens and residents of the area, but members of the society go fishing and catch large quantities of fish which they export to Baha, Jeddah and Jazan markets leaving no fish for the small fishermen of the province.

A number of citizens and owners of shops selling fish demanded the intervention of authorities to protect them against this exploitation.

Mohammad Almughrabi, Ali Mohammad and Hassan Mohammad said they are eating canned tuna due to the lack of fresh fish.

Hassan Al-Rafidi, the head of the Fishermen’s Cooperative Society in Qunfuda, said it is not a condition that all fishermen should be registered in the society.

“The number of fishermen registered in the society is about twenty, and we have no powers to prevent other fishermen from selling their yield outside the borders of the province, or in setting prices for that matter,” he added.