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Fishing ban makes seafood dearer
With summer fishing holiday in place, seafood has become costly. Fisher folk are not allowed to go in to sea for fishing between 15 April and 14 June to save the fish stocks as these days are the season for reproduction of fish. Owners of mechanised boats in Bhogapuram and Pusapatirega in the district are busy repairing their boats leaving the turf to non-mechanised country boats.
Vizianagaram: With summer fishing holiday in place, seafood has become costly. Fisher folk are not allowed to go in to sea for fishing between 15 April and 14 June to save the fish stocks as these days are the season for reproduction of fish. Owners of mechanised boats in Bhogapuram and Pusapatirega in the district are busy repairing their boats leaving the turf to non-mechanised country boats.
The catch by fisher folk deploying country boats is negligible compared with the mechanised ones. So the cost of the fish has become higher than the normal days. Apart from this, bulk purchasers like wedding party organisers, hoteliers are lifting the entire fish, prawns from the market, further pushing up the prices. With this, the sea food lovers will have to wait at least two more months before they get fish or prawns at normal prices. Supply of crabs has also come down drastically as the fishermen are not going into further into see to catch them.
B Chinappanna, chairman, Fisherman Cooperative Society Limited of Vizianagaram district, said around 200 mechanised boats were forced to anchor at shore due to the fishing holiday. “Now all the fishermen are searching for alternative sources of income as they are not getting enough fish for their livelihood. Fisherman in Pusapatirega, Bhogapuram, Tippalavalasa, Chintapalli are struggling to lead normal life as they don’t know anything else other than fishing,” he said.
Vanjaram, the top notch sea fish savoured by many seafood lovers, is now costing Rs 400 a kg as against its normal price of around Rs 250. The big size tiger prawns are being sold at Rs 350 now, which was around Rs 200 in normal days. Chanduva fish also is now being sold at Rs 500 per kg. Other species of fish like Gulivindalu and Bonthalu, which are sold at Rs 70-Rs 80 a kg in other seasons, are now costing Rs.150.
K Srinivas, a catering contractor, said: “Availability of seafood has come down and the price of fish and prawns is going through the roof. As customers are demanding us to provide prawns in their parties, we are facing a hard time getting more quantity of fish. Now I am paying Rs 300 per kg of prawns as whole sale price. We are struggling to provide prawn biryani to our customers.”
By Koppara Gandhi
