KARWAR : Three days after Goa imposed a ban on fish from Karnataka, prices of the seafood dropped by over 50 per cent in Uttara Kannada. Fishermen who venture deep into sea at the risk of their lives are directly affected by the development, and the district is losing more and more revenue by the day.
In the month of July, food and drug administration (FDA) of Goa is said to have found formalin in fish that landed there from other states, so the state imposed a ban on fish from other places. Three days ago, fearing the presence of formalin in fish from out of the state, Goa FDA issued a circulation not to permit fish container lorries from Karnataka, due to which a number of those from Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada were stopped by Goan police at Majali check-post near Karwar.
The July ban did not affect Karnataka fishermen because that was the period of monsoon holidays in the state. Fish-laden lorries from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh then made it to Goa, which is a popular tourist hub and one of the large fish consuming states of the country. During that time too formalin was found in fish there, but that was not fish that had come there from Karnataka.
As another precautionary measure, the FDA asked Goan agents, who buy fish from Karnataka and sell them in open vehicles to renew their licences, during which they were asked not to purchase fish from Karnataka. It is this decision of the Goa government that has affected cost of fish in Uttara Kannada as well as Goa markets. While in Uttara Kannada their is excess fish resulting in the crashing of its price, its shortage in Goa has caused the price to shoot up.
According to Praveen Javkar, an agent from Karwar, more than 40 per cent of Uttara Kannada fish catch is marketed in Goa, and the remaining 60 per cent is transported to Hubballi, Shivamogga and other parts of the state. “The ban is causing fishermen of Karnataka a loss of crores of rupees every day,” he told ‘The New Indian Express’.
“Margaon is hardly 100 km away from Karwar and about 300 km from Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts. Fish does not get spoilt when it is transported across these short distances, hence there is no need to apply formalin to the fish. It is a conspiracy of the Goa government to disturb Karnataka fishermen and to benefit their fishermen,” he added.
Fish laid to rest
On Sunday, after fish containers were not allowed into Goa and its price in local markets crashed, a number of fishermen buried their catch in the Ravindranath Tagore beach in Karwar as a mark of protest. They rued that they were not able to sell their good Sunday catch, which does not happen often. “Our catch for the day had no takers in Goa as well as Karnataka, so we were forced to bury it,” a fisherman told.