Red Sea Escalation Paralyzes Fishing Sector in Yemens Al-Hudaydah
About 60 percent of fishermen in Yemen’s Al-Hudaydah province lost their sources of livelihood due to the Red Sea tensions, a government source has said.
The Yemeni government director of the Information Office in Al-Hudaydah, Ali Al-Ahdal, said in a statement that about 300,000 people in the province work in the fishing sector, of whom 60 percent have lost their jobs after the Houthi attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
Al-Ahdal pointed out that the military operations off the coast of Al-Hudaydah have killed 71 fishermen and wounded over 100 others since 2018.
Local authorities in Al-Hudaydah documented the missing of 40 fishermen over the past few months. Eight of them have been missing since last month.
Late last month, eight Yemeni fishermen were found dead in the Midi district of Hajjah province. Houthi sources said the eight fishermen belonged to Al-Khokha district of Al-Hudaydah. The Houthi authorities accused the international forces of opening fire on the Yemeni fishermen.
The Red Sea escalation began in November when the Houthis started attacking Israeli-linked ships in support of Palestinians in Gaza, which has been bombed and besieged by Israel since October last year.
The fishermen are exposed to gunfire, shelling, drones, or missiles as the Red Sea tensionscontinue to intensify. Another grave threat facing the fishermen is the sea mines.
Sheba Intelligence reported in December that the Houthi group planted sea mines along the coasts of the Red Sea, especially off the shores of the Midi port, populated islands, fishing spots, and near the international shipping route in the Red Sea, west of Buklan Island, which belongs to the Midi District in Hajjah province.
According to the report, the mobile naval mines,planted by the Houthis off the coast of Al-Hudaydah, Midi district of Hajjah, and some Yemeni islands, caused material damage to the fishermen, whether directly affecting their boats or hindering their movement at sea.
In April 2020, a Yemeni fisherman, Wahib Muhammad Hassan, was killed by a sea mine explosion while he was going to fish on the Al-Tur coast in the Bayt Al-Faqih District, south of Al-Hudaydah.
