Steep oil prices have caused the volume of shrimp caught at sea to drop by 50 per cent, which will hit exports, the president of the Thai Shrimp Association said yesterday.

Somsak Paneetatyasai said fishing boats had stopped going to sea, causing a sharp fall in the harvesting of non-farmed shrimp, which mainly supplies the domestic market.

In addition, the harvesting of giant freshwater prawn has also declined due to a widespread viral disease.

As production drops, traders have to shift to white shrimp, which are normally mainly for export, in order to serve domestic consumption. Moreover, this will cause a domino effect because white-shrimp production is forecast to fall by 10 per cent this quarter, also affecting exports.

"The association had held talks with concerned fishing agencies, who share the same view: that the oil price crisis has had the biggest-ever impact on the fishing industry with 50 per cent of all fishermen refusing to go to sea," Somsak said.

According to a Fishery Department report, the volume of shrimp fished at sea reached 74,860 tonnes last year. However, the National Fishery Association predicts that volume will drop to 37,430 tonnes this year.

The freshwater shrimp farmers association also said production would drop by 30-40

per cent to 19,000 tonnes this year because of widespread disease. This problem will also adversely affect the number of shrimp hatchlings.

Somsak said the country's total shrimp harvest - both sea and freshwater - would drop from 103,860 tonnes in 2005 to 56,430 tonnes this year.