Fishermen, traders for cut in oil prices

Fishermen and small traders on Thursday demanded of the government to cut the prices of petroleum products, saying that the soaring fuel cost has further increased their business expenditures. Talking to Business Recorder, the fishermen of Baba Island Keamari said that their fishing activities had reduced significantly since the fresh hike in petroleum products' prices.
They were of the view that the increase had impacted their livelihood badly as they were unable to continue rapid fishing trips on the sea owing to high fuel prices. They said the fish and shrimp catch was not yielding a sufficient sum on the local market to pay off their dues to mole holders.
They said that a large number of fishermen had stopped their trips, because the cost of fishing was too high against low catch price. They said that a large number of fishing-boats crew had lost their jobs, as a result of a halt in the fishing activities in the wake of fresh fuel price hike.
They demanded of the government to bring down the prices of petroleum prices to a reasonable level, saying "poor fishermen and boat crew is suffering from the increase with reducing opportunities of livelihood on the sea". The other issue they wanted to highlight was the unabated and unscheduled electricity load shedding, which created immense problems for them and their families. They said the government should also reduce power cuts in the areas largely populated by the poor fishermen.
Fishermen said the recent strike by the oil suppliers had also affected their daily fishing voyages and wanted the government to take steps to ensure such a halt in fuel availability should not occur in the future. A group of small traders in the old city area told Business Recorder that the soaring fuel prices and persistent power outages had badly affected their already downsized businesses. They said the recent fuel shortage had also contributed in the decline of business activities in markets.
They showed concerns over the poor law and order situation in the old city area and blamed the government for not taking action against the outlaws, saying that traders were unable to continue businesses in such unfriendly environment. They said they were forced to pay huge extortion to outlaws in return to continue their businesses, which created huge financial crisis for many of them.