|
At Sang Arun Pier, where Thai fishermen haul-in their
weekly and bi-weekly catch,you get transported to another world,
another time
|
|
 |
Phuket
Harbour, just a hop, skip and jump from Robinson’s Department
Store in Phuket Town, is so completely different, so utterly out
of the ordinary, that unless you have an interest in commercial
fishing, you have to be very advent urous to venture out there.
Not only that, but to really experience the excitement, the exhilaration
and to witness for yourself the ‘big one that didn’t get
away, the best time to visit this bustling market and commercial
processing plant is before 6am. At Sang Arun Pier, where Thai fishermen
haul-in their weekly and bi-weekly catch, you get transported to
another world, another time. To experience the fishwife haggling
over crates of live crab with dealers of the finest establishments
on the island, enduring an unbearably strong odour whilst watching
the sunrise over Si Reh Island, is perhaps worth at least one early-morning
jaunt.
Thai fishermen from Phuket
ply the waters of the Andaman Sea hauling in 10, 000 -20, 000 kilos
of fish in a two-week period. Stretching well into the Bay of Bengal,
the Andaman Sea is one of the richest marine-life regions of the
world. Fresh seafood from this area is not only shipped worldwide,
but is also flash-frozen and canned. Other than the large quantities
of fish, the daily catch brought into Sang Arun Pier include 500
kilos of shrimp, 100 -200 kilos of crab and 500 -1, 000 kilos of
squid.
Over one hundred fishing boats dock daily at the pier. Each boat
is at least 22 metres long, crewed by about eight to ten fishermen.
“The biggest catches are in February. November, December and
January are the worst” advises a tired- looking fisherman.
He is happy to go home after a two-week trip. But he only gets one
day to rest and spend time with this family. “Tomorrow, we
leave again. We go close to Burma” he says...
Dealers from all over Phuket
throng to the pier before 6:30 am. Naturally the first ones to get
there get the best deals. The unsold catch is processed at the factory
on the premises. Fish heads and other discarded parts are ground
into pig food, emitting an unbearably strong odour. Amazingly, two
men processing without masks don ’t seem to notice the horrid
smells emanating from the discards.
At other parts of the pier, where larger ships are docked, automatic
conveyor-belts are lowered into the ship’s hold. Fish is transferred
via these belts into large containers. They are then transported
to various locations, not only around Phuket but also, all over
Thailand.
Several women sort the squid, crab, fish and shrimp brimming in
big plastic tubs. They laugh and joke, holding up a thin needlefish,
quickly tossing it in the unwanted pile. A fish market scene repeated
the world over.
|
