For two months, Thai fisherman Bunyut Chaosamut kept his boat at anchor at a port an hour’s drive south of Bangkok. The war in the Middle East had driven up fuel costs, making it too expensive to go out. Now, it’s become too expensive not to.
With a crew of 10 — six from Myanmar and four Thais — to feed, house and pay, plus maintenance and utility fees to dock at a commercial jetty, Bunyut is headed back to sea. His boat leaves just as the sun is setting and returns at dawn laden with herring, sardines and mackerel from the Gulf of Thailand. His fuel bill is well over half the cost of each trip, yet Bunyut says he’s unable to raise the price of his catch.
