June 13, 2008
BANGKOK - The fishermen yesterday called for global fuel protests, saying the soaring oil prices were preventing them from fishing and damaging trade.
More than half of the nation's 50,000-strong fishing boat fleet had been forced to stop fishing for the past three months due to the high cost of diesel, said the Fishing Federation of Thailand president, Mana Sripitak.
The government had not yet responded to the group's request to lower the price of diesel by five baht per litre.
"More than half of them docked their boats because they could not survive if they continued fishing," he told AFP.
"I have contacted fishing federations in other countries to see whether we should launch a global protest for several days," he added.
Fishermen set fire to a fishing boat in late May to protest the government's lack of action.
Benchmark global crude prices stormed past the 100-dollar mark for the first time at the start of the year, reaching a record 138 dollars this month.
In Thailand, diesel prices were at a record high of 41.34 baht (1.25 dollars) per litre on Wednesday.
