Maritime transport in Ataran River disrupts livelihoods of fishing community

January 6, 2023

HURFOM: Since December 2022, there have been frequent maritime transport activities taking place in the Ataran River in Kyaikmayaw Township, of Mon State. As a result the local fishing community is experiencing many problems due to the large maritime vessels traveling along the river.

“Earlier this year, there was just one transport every three days. But since the second week of December, 2022, large transportation vessels have been on the river twice a day – one in the morning and another in the evening. These vessels travel at high speed, so we have to re-collect our fishing nets quickly. Also the vessels create big waves, we have to row our boats carefully. The frequency of these large maritime transports make it tough for our livelihood,” said a local fisherman.

CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v62), quality = 75

The vessels are transporting lime stones produced by the Mawlamyine Cement Factory (MCL) to Yangon using the Ataran River route, according to a villager who lives near the factory.

“The factory starts mining limestone at 5 am and stops at 8 pm,” said the villager.

The MCL had stopped their activities in 2020 but re-started their operations in January, 2022, just a year after the coup.

Even during the period when operations were suspended MCL used the Ataran River to transport materials damaging both the riverbank and nearby houses.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News