More than 30,000 fishermen along Yemen's Red Sea coast have been forced to abandon or dramatically scale back their work as the ongoing conflict transforms the sea into a battlefield, according to the head of the Fishermen's Association in al-Khawkhah. Sea mines have killed 264 fishermen and injured 215 others since the war escalated, while 113 more have gone missing since 2023, with Houthi forces and pro-government factions both imposing movement restrictions that prevent fishermen from reaching deeper waters. The crisis is gutting an industry that was once Yemen's second-largest source of export earnings after oil, pushing many fishermen to relocate or retrain entirely — one former fisherman sold two decades' worth of gear to buy a minibus — as those who remain describe sailing with their "shroud on their shoulders."