Impact of COVID-19 on Fish Marketing at the Peliyagoda Central Fish Market, Sri Lanka.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic which had expeditious spread around the world had significant social and economic repercussions on almost every nation in the world. Measures such as island-wide curfew, movement restrictions, and social distancing imposed by the Sri Lankan government to control the widespread of the virus have negatively affected all economic activities including fisheries. The present study assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fish marketing of the Central Fish Market (CFM), Peliyagoda which is considered the centerpiece of fish marketing in Sri Lanka. Primary data were collected by administering questionnaires consisting of open and closed-ended questions. The questionnaire extracted information from 99 respondents on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on fish marketing activities, with a focus on demographic status, food security, the income of stakeholders, the quantity of fish traded, the number of daily visitors, and price fluctuations of fish. Secondary data were collected from the logbook maintained by the management trust of CFM governed under the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Sri Lanka. Kruskal- Wallis post hoc test and One-way ANOVA were employed to assess the significant differences in income, biomass, and price paid for the fish from 2019 to 2021. In this context, fish marketing activities in 2020 were further categorized into before-pandemic (2020-BP), duringpandemic( 2020-DP), and complete-shutdown (2020-CS) of the market. The study indicated a significant decline in daily income, the biomass of fish traded by stakeholders, and average daily visitors to the CFM with the increase in the severity of the pandemic. Annual comparison of the daily price and total biomass of fish during 2019-2021 evidenced the impacts on the marketing system. Furthermore, quarterly changes in daily price and total biomass of fish from 2019 to 2021 corresponded with the COVID-19 timeline. The second wave of COVID-19 commenced at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2020 (Q4-2020) in the CFM and the market was closed in October 2020, affecting the marketing and distribution of fish over the country. The present study elucidates that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected fish marketing activities to varying degrees. Thus, comprehensive studies are pivotal to implementing mitigation measures and developing policies for the smooth functioning of the fishery industry regardless of the effects of external shocks such as global pandemics, economic crises, and natural disasters.