MUKAH: Despite the rainy season, fishermen continue to seek their livelihoods at sea. They do not consider rain as a challenge to obtaining fresh seafood for sale to the Mukah residents.
A survey at the Mukah Wet Market fish unloading area found that many fishermen are venturing out to sea due to favourable weather conditions.
Wahap Razak, 30, one of the fishermen, said that during this rainy season, it depends on the courage of each fisherman to go to sea.
“It’s up to the individual fishermen if they want to go out to sea to earn a living on rainy days, but most of them will still go. This is because, during the rainy season, the catch is similar to any other day,” he said when interviewed.
He added that if the rain is heavy, they may not go out to sea but will still come to the Mukah Wet Market to liven up the atmosphere.
For Mazaian Norsidi, 42, during the rainy season, he and his friends wear raincoats when going to sea.
“This is for our safety, and we always bring raincoats during the rainy season because we don’t know what will happen during the journey to the sea. Alhamdulillah, today (Jan 3), the weather in Mukah is quite clear, and the catch is substantial as we managed to obtain 100kg of various types of fish,” he explained.
He revealed that they start their sea journey at 4am and return around 9 to 10 am to the Mukah Wet Market to sell their catch to fish vendors.
Commenting on the weather, Mazaian mentioned that fishermen do go to sea during the rainy season, but if there is lightning, thunder, and storms, they will avoid going to sea.
“This is because such weather conditions are dangerous, and it takes courage for us to go to sea even if the catch is quite substantial,” he added.
Meanwhile, Daud Suni, 57, also stated that they still go to sea during the rainy season because the catch is similar to normal weather.
“However, when it rains with lightning, thunder, and wind, we will not go to sea because it is dangerous. During this rainy season, we always bring raincoats for our safety.
“As for the catch, during the rainy season, we obtain two large fish containers, which is slightly less than usual as we usually get a catch of up to five containers,” he explained.
In this regard, he said they go to sea between 3.30am and 4am because the journey to the sea is quite far from the estuary.
“In one boat, there are two to three people, and we only use drift nets. During the monsoon season, we take the opportunity to repair, arrange, and make nets because we cannot go to sea.
“We use the spare time to fix what needs fixing because after the monsoon season, the catch is usually more abundant,” he added.
Therefore, Daud advised fishermen to always be cautious when earning a living, especially during the monsoon season.
