Drop in price of fish as stocks pile up

Fishermen in the city are having a tough time selling their catch in the aftermath of the rains. Despite having replenished their stocks in the past few days that witnessed comparatively sunny weather, the wholesalers have been compelled to reduce their prices sharply, due to an acute shortage of vendors coming from various parts of Chennai and the surrounding districts. D Panneer Selvam, the Organising Secretary of All India Fishermen’s Association (Tamil Nadu) tells us that despite the fishermen having hauled a good catch, hundreds of kilos of fish are at risk of being discarded as garbage. 

He says, “There are more than 1,000 itinerant fish vendors (mobile vendors who travel on foot or bikes) in the city. A majority of these vendors have been cut off from us for a while now, because of the damages to the roads and their vehicles. Right now, we have about 300 odd itinerant vendors buying from us. This apart, we have about 5,000 regular fish vendors, out of which only 1,000 sellers have been coming to the harbour over the last one week. Due to all these factors, we have been forced to cut the prices of our products by a big margin.” 

Close to 1,150 boats and 5,000 catamarans venture out into the sea on an a regular day. But that number came down over the last few weeks, when monsoons lashed at northern part of the state. Selvam adds that due to warnings from the MET department, a large section of fishermen did not venture into the sea. Also, a number of people refrain from buying fish during the Sabarimala season, which has also had a negative impact on the sales of the fish.