CHENNAI: Seafood prices may go up due to fishing ban

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai, on April 15, 2011:

Link:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/seafood-prices-may-go-up-due-to-fishing-ban/265744.html

CHENNAI: With the mandatory 45-day fishing ban on mechanised trawlers coming into effect from Thursday midnight across the Tamil Nadu coast, the prices of popular fish varieties such as seer, pomfret and trevally are all set to go up by a minimum of 60 per cent in the coming days.

The ban, which will be in place till May 31, was imposed under the Tamil Nadu Deep-sea Fishing Regulation Act wherein trawlers and other mechanised boats will not be allowed for deep-sea fishing in order to facilitate spawning.

However, manual fishing boats (fibre boats with less that 15 HP engines) and catamarans are excluded from the ban.

According to K Bharathi, president of South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association, prices of highly-consumed fish varieties such as seer (vanjiram), pomfret (vaavval), trevally (paarai), shark (sura), red-snapper (sankara) and prawn varieties like tiger, golden and white, will be witnessing a steep hike of about 70 to 90 per cent per kilogram during the season.

The annual ban will affect the livelihood of about two-and-half lakh fishermen families in the State, as 8,500 mechanised boats would be anchored till May-end.

S Venugopal, coordinator of Tamil Nadu Mechanised Boat Owners’ Association, said, “In Chennai Fishing Harbour (Kasimedu) alone, about 800 trawlers would be anchored and most of the owners use the ban period to repair their vessels.”

Until 2009, the State Fisheries Department was providing Rs 500 to each fisherman during the season till the ban was lifted.

In 2010, the government increased the dole to Rs 800, and this year, it has been further increased to Rs 1,000.

Rates per kg for highly consumed fish varieties

Seer (vanjiram)    -now Rs 270 (Rs 370 to Rs 410 during ban period) 

Pomfret (vovval) - now Rs 380 (Rs 450 to Rs 470 during ban period)

Trevally (paarai) -  now Rs 65 (Rs 110 to Rs 130 during ban period )

Shark (sura)        - now Rs 110 (Rs 150 to Rs 160 during ban period)

Red-snapper (sankara)  - now Rs 150 (Rs 250 to Rs 300 during ban period)

Tiger prawns   -now Rs 390 (Rs 580 to Rs 630 during ban period)