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The
2004 tsunami and the fishing sector
The tsunami in December 2004 had a devastating impact on poor fishermen
and their families in many countries in Asia. In the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Province of Indonesia,
where 42,000 fishers and their families live, 70 per
cent of the small-scale fishing fleet has been destroyed.
In Nias Island, about 800 fishing canoes have been destroyed.
Two thirds of local fisherfolk from the capital, Banda
Aceh, were killed by the waves. In Maldives, where a large part of the population depends on fishing for their livelihood, more than one third of all inhabited islands were severely damaged and hundreds of boats and harbours were destroyed. In the state of Andhra Pradesh in India, fishermen along the 1000 km coastline were the worst hit by the tsunami. About 2000 fishing boats and some 48,000 units of fishing gear were lost. About 300,000 fishermen lost their jobs. In the state of Tamil Nadu, 591 fishing villages and 30 islands in the Andaman and Nicobar island groups have been badly affected by the tsunami. India's seafood exports may decline some 30 per cent as a result of the disaster. In Myanmar, some 200 villages along the southern coast that rely on fishing were hit by tsunami, losing fishing vessels, fishing gear and infrastructure. Some 17 seaside fishing villages were reported destroyed and at least 53 people killed. In Malaysia, the livelihoods of about 6000 fishermen and their families have been affected by the disaster. In Somalia, about 2600 fishing boats were destroyed. In the Seychelles, coastal fish farms
and the artisanal fisheries sector suffered extensively.
A large number of fishing vessels were damaged or lost.
The two fish processing plants and cold storage facilities
located at the fishing port in Victoria were also affected.
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