By Sami Zaptia.
London, 19 May 2017:
Tripoli’s main Bab El-Baher fish market reopened yesterday after the completion of renovation works. The market’s activities had died down over the last year as a result of the lack of foreign employees, mostly Egyptians doing most of the fishing for the Libyan-owned fishing boats and trawlers, rocketing prices and the smuggling of fish abroad.
With the huge drop in value in the Libyan dinar against foreign currencies since 2015, and the breakdown of the state security apparatus such as the Navy and Coast Guard, it had become much more beneficial for the few remaining fishermen operating in Libyan waters to export their catch without even landing it on Libyan shores.
However, the National Oil Corporation’s BREGA Fuel Crisis Committee reported that fish availability is now up and prices had fallen by an average of 60 percent thanks to new coordinated anti-smuggling efforts.
Conducting a videoed tour of the fish market, the Fuel Crisis Committee noted yesterday that prices had fallen thanks to ‘‘anti-smuggling efforts which will be good news for the citizens’’. This will enable the average citizen to ‘‘afford fish prices’’ during the fasting month of Ramadan which starts next week, it added.
The Fuel Crisis Committee thanked the Libyan Navy, Coast Guard, Ports Security, Air Force and Border Guards for their efforts and pointed out that the fall in fish prices was a ‘‘direct result of their efforts’’.
The reopening was attended by the GNA’s Minister of Agriculture-designate, the head of Fish Resources General Authority, the Mayor of Tripoli Central Municipality and former Prime minister Abdelrahman Kib.
