Residents of coastal villages in Ayeyawady Region say they can no longer bear the smell of fish-drying sites set up by off-shore fishers. They say the smell is nauseating and hazardous to their health.
Kyaw Thu Shein, a member of a civil society organization in Pathein Township, told Eleven: “The wind blowing from the east brings the horrible stink from dried fish. The whole village can smell it. The elderly and pregnant women suffer the most from those smells.”
He also said a nearby fish-drying site spans nearly and acre and contains fish that have been drying for up to three days.
In September, the General Administration Department for Ayeyawady Region enacted a prohibition on fish drying and animal husbandry that harm public health. Nonetheless, these coastal villagers say their complaints to local authorities have gone unanswered.
Kyaw Thu Shein said: “We have schools full of children and clinics filled with patients. The reek bothers them all.”
