KALBA residents are confronted with reality of disappearance of fresh fish from the coasts of their city.

According to some of the residents, who were interviewed, many of the fresh fish are smuggled into neighbouring markets, forcing them to buy frozen fish at extremely high prices.

Ahmed Al Zaabi and Mohammed Abassi said that they go to the market daily to buy fish, but they noticed that there were no fresh fish.

Another resident, Ebid Humaid, said that there should be a daily share of fresh fish in the market, instead of forcing people to go to other markets.

He said that he was concerned whether the situation will remain the same as Eid is approaching.

Fish traders at the Kalba Market, Ashraf and Abdul Kader Killani, said that the fresh fish from the Kalba coasts are taken to Fujairah markets and this has caused shortage of fish and forced most of the vendors to sell frozen fish.

They said that many customers have stopped coming to the market and are heading to the neighbouring markets in search of fresh fish.

Consequently 14 fish stores have been closed, and only four remain open, they added.

Officials at the fishermen society in Kalba noted that the decrease in fish availability is due to climate change that affected the sea recently. One of the reasons of short is less efforts made by the fishermen during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Concerning the transfer of fish to neighbouring markets, officials said that the fishermen are always looking for a good offer and weigh the demand in those markets as compared to the markets in the city.

Dr Kamal Al Hamadi, the head of Public Health Department at Kalba Municipality said that they carry out a tight control on the fish being sold at the markets, especially the frozen ones that come from outside.