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Non-availability of fish: Prices rise!

Pongal festival: Labourers return back to their homes

Mangaluru: Due to the non-availability of fish and because of the lack of fishermen, the prices of fish are on the rise at the markets. In comparison to the prices last week, the prices have increased by twice and consequently the number of customers has also dropped.

Most of the fishermen involved in fishing at Mangaluru and other fisheries port s are originally from Tamil Nadu. Currently, Tamil Nadu is celebrating Pongal festival and in this backdrop, the fishermen have returned back to their home towns. Due to this, more than 50% of the deep sea trawlers have remained back the port itself.

Supply falls from 200 tonnes to 130 tonnes

On normal days, around 200 tonnes of fish arrive at the fisheries port in the city. But in the recent days, only 130 tonnes of fish is arriving at the port. On one side if there is the lack of fishermen, on the other side, due to the winter, the fishes prefer to remain at the depths of sea. Because of this, the fishes do not get trapped in the nets. According to the estimate by the officials from the fisheries department, there will be a lack in fishes for the next two months.

Most of the deep sea trawlers from the city go towards Maharashtra for deep sea fishing. The boats return back after 11 days with a catch worth almost Rs 7 lakh. But due to the recent mysterious disappearance of a deep sea trawler along with its crew of 7 fishermen at the deep sea near Maharashtra has lead to a sense of impending doom and fear and hence the fishermen are reluctant to go towards Maharashtra for deep sea fishing.

Since a few months the fishermen are facing difficulties. A few months ago, as a result of atmospheric depression in the Arabian Sea, many labourers who were solely dependent of fishing as their source of income have incurred a loss worth crores of rupees. The recent road block organised at Malpe delivered a loss of more than Rs 5 crore in a single day. This was followed by a lack of fishermen which caused a loss of more than Rs 15 crore.

Reluctant to head towards Maharashtra

Karnataka purse seine fishermen’s association president Mohan Bangera spoke with ‘Udayavani’ and said that the number of boats involved with fishing at Maharashtra has reduced. If fishing is done here, the catch is bigger. But, due to the recent mysterious disappearance of the deep sea trawler ‘Suvarna Tribhuja’ along with its crew of 7 fishermen near Maharashtra, the other fishermen are reluctant to go towards Maharashtra for fishing. This is one of the reasons for the rise in fish prices, he explains.

Rise in fish prices

In comparison to the fish prices since the last two weeks, the fish prices have gone up steeply. Earlier, a kg of King Fish was priced at Rs 600 but now it’s Rs 1,000. Mackerel which was Rs 150 for a kg is now Rs 250 per kg. A single Sardine would cost Rs 5-6 earlier, but now it has risen to Rs 13.

Lack of fish availability

“Fishermen have returned back to their states on the occasion of Pongal festival. In the coming days, there is a possibility that the fish prices may rise. Most of the fishermen will remain at their home towns for at least 3-4 days and because of this, there will be a further decrease in the availability of the fish reaching the fisheries port,” said Vasudeva Boloor, vice president of National Fish Workers Forum