First flotilla arrives: Landing spaces flush with fish

Mangaluru: "Shrimp boats are coming, their sails are in sight...."So sang Jo Strafford an American Pop artiste in 1951, more or less the fisherwomen and the consumers are singing the same tune as the first flotilla of mechanised boats arrived in Mangaluru old port after the new fishing season 2024-25 began on August 1 but the first boat will arrive at the Mangaluru old port on 12 August (Monday) with the first catch.

These boats were in the sea for ten days, braving the monsoon waves. But when they come they get the hero’s welcome by the fisherfolk and consumers alike.

After a hiatus of 61 days of monsoon fishing ban, the new fisheries season 2024-25 will open on 1 August 2400 mechanised boats all along the Coastal had gone on fishing expedition into the Arabian sea. After 12 days of fishing they will be returning to the fishing ports on the coast of Karnataka 12 August onwards.

According to the fish traders the first outing had been good and got copious catch of pink perches, cuttle, seer, pomfret, jumbo squids and tiger prawns, mackerel and sardines said Santhosh Mendon fishermen leader. “We were expecting more volumes of high value fishes like Ribbon fish, seer, pomfret and jumbo prawns but we have only few tons of it, this does not mean that the expedition was not worth its cost, but we did not make a huge profit as it used to be in the past seasons” Mendon said.

“In a typical fishing season the Karnataka coast with three district Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada land 4.5 lakh tons of fish there has been a swing of 10-12 percent per year in volume and value and it happened also in the last fishing year, the swing happens due to many factors including the environmental factor. But at the moment the current fisheries season looks up as we have all the parameters -environmental, logistical, Human resources and machinery all in place at the right time.

Senior fisherman Loknath Karkera said the second flotilla of fishermen who have gone up to 30 meters fathom depth were returning on Monday , they might have good news on high value fish.