Surat Thani, 29 May – Special operations team “White Shark” rushes to help local fishing boat groups that look for cockles in Ban Don Bay, Surat Thani Province.
The local fishermen said that the influential groups have pressured merchants almost every day to not buy their cockles. Sometimes ramming their boats and even causing one of the thousands of boats to sink.
The influential groups are like the cockle mafia according to local fisherman. They demand money, cockles, and try to bully the local fishermen.
Thirty officers boarded a surveillance ship and set out for the sea in search of the influential groups of Ban Don Bay around the area of Phunphin district after a group of local fishermen complained
Cockle farmers in Thailand have contracts with wholesalers in Bangkok or in other local areas. Since the harvest period is short and the quantity produced is high, the contracts avoid market gluts and consequent low prices.
Sometimes when production is low, farmers buy cockles from Malaysia to fulfill their contracts. The wholesalers distribute the cockles to other middlemen. The other middlemen redistribute to dealers who deliVer cockles to all sections of Thailand.
So, the cockle harvest time can be very stressful for farmers.
