VISAKHAPATNAM: It is going to be tough time for sea food lovers in Visakhapatnam. For at least a month, the varieties of fish available in the Bay of Bengal will be out of reach for them.
Since the day Hudhud cyclone hit the fishing harbour on October 12, damaging or sinking most of the mechanised boats, fishermen are down and out. They say it would take a month for commencing at least 50 percent of operations, provided the government ensures power supply to ice factories and helps fishermen financially to get their boats back in shape.
The Visakhapatnam fishing harbour produces 350 tonne of fish every day on an average, of which nearly half is sold in Visakhapatnam itself. The remaining fish is exported in trucks to Tamil Nadu and Kerala where people love fish varieties caught here.
The most sought after and most expensive fish are: Chanduvua which is sold at Rs 500 to Rs 600 a kg, followed by Konam and Vanjaram which are available at Rs 350 a kg. “Chanduva is expensive because the fish is not available in plenty. In the entire day’s catch of half a tonne by one fishing boat, Chanduva accounts for about a basketful which weighs about 6 to 7 kg,” says M Ramudu, general secretary of AP Mechanised Boat Operators’ Association.
Hudhud has sunk as many as 63 boats, caused severe damage to about 150. About 300 boats suffered minor damage. “In fact, no boat is in a fit condition. Apart from this, there is no ice. There are no fish traders. There is no fishing activity. For us to build a new boat, it costs Rs 25 lakh. The government has promised Rs 6 lakh. The Centre too should help or we are sunk,” says association president PC Appa Rao.
When the cyclone hit, the boats were swept towards the three jetties at the harbour. Unfortunately, at the jetties, there were trawlers submerged earlier for various reasons. The mechanised boats which were pushed towards the jetties swerved and hit the huge trawlers below and broke up into pieces and sank. “The sunken trawlers were not removed by the authorities and they caused a lot of damage to us,” Appa Rao says.
For fishing to resume, fishermen want ice factories to run fully. “Without ice, our operations cannot begin. Some boats stay in the sea for as may as 15 days and we need ice to preserve fish. At present there is no power supply to ice factories. Though some ice is being produced by the factories with generator power, it is not sufficient, Appa Rao says.
Another issue worrying the fishermen is that fish traders have been hit hard by the cyclone. Their sheds located near the fishing harbour are gone. Their equipment like weighing machines and ice boxes are also damaged. Unless the traders are around, there is no point in catching fish.
The only saving grace for the fishermen is that about 45 mechanised boats are safe as they had been sent to Paradeep Port after the cyclone warning. “These boats are safe and they could be used for fishing,” says Appa Rao.
Appa Rao rues that none of their boats had been insured because they had bitter experiences with insurance companies in the past. The insurance companies look for one pretext or the other to avoid paying for any damage to our boats. “Subsequently, we have set up a fund with a contribution of Rs 2,000 from each boat owner for paying compensation when a boat suffers damage. But this time many boats had sunk and many others have suffered heavy damage. The money that we have is not enough to help the owners of those boats,” he says.