The retail prices of fish at Al Wakra Fish Market have recently dropped by almost 50% compared to the prices before Eid holidays due to the limited demand, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported.
A number of salesmen at the market pointed out that demand has dropped considerably over the past few days, mostly due to the summer holidays as many families often travel outside the country. However, the supply at the market is not much too as the very hot weather make it difficult for fishermen to return with good quantities.
The recent retail prices include QR30 per kg of Hamour, QR8 for Sheri, and QR7 for Faskar, while live Qatari Tilapia was sold fresh for QR18 per kg, displayed inside glass water basins.
Fairoz Ishaq, a salesman at the market, said demand has been low over the past few days even though the amounts of different varieties of fish are not much. Accordingly, as the sales dropped, retail prices dropped too. For instance Sultan Ibrahim fish was sold for QR20 per kg, big Sheri fish at QR8, Zubaidi QR25, Hamour or Kingfish QR30 and Red Hamour at QR25 per kg. As for imported Indian shrimps, the prices ranged from QR45 and up to QR75 depending on the size and quality.
Dr AbuAqila al-Smani, veterinarian from the health control section at Al Wakra Municipality Municipal Control Department, stressed that fishermen should be very careful to strictly follow the recommended procedures to keep fish good during such hot weather conditions to avoid potential damage when they return from the fishing trips.
He said that they should swiftly take the fish out of the fishing nets and put them in sealed cooling boxes with plenty of ice pieces, and should completely avoid leaving the fish exposed to the weather on the deck of the ship or boat. Further, they should use cooled transportation vehicles to take the fish quickly to the market place from the fishing harbour.
He further stressed that failing to abide by any of such instructions would eventually cause the fish to go bad before hitting the market. It is also considered the main reason behind almost 90% of the rotten fish, which is eventually destroyed by the authorities.
