In the wake of rumours about consumption of chicken and mutton amid the coronavirus scare across the country, sea-food prices have suddenly skyrocketed in the Indian city of Mumbai and surroundings areas in the past one week.
Both freshwater and sea fish — procured from rivers, inland fisheries, or the Arabian Sea and the creeks dotting the Maharashtra coast – have been hit badly as prices have shot up by an average 50-60 per cent in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
This is having serious repercussions on the cost of fish items served by specialized ‘sea-food restaurants’ and regular eateries where it is one of the options, though prices have not been hiked so far.
Akhil Maharashtra Machhimar Kriti Samit President Damodar Tandel attributes many reasons for the price rise which has got compounded due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
“Monsoon 2019 got extended on the Konkan coast with very rough weather, besides the massive floods in several districts last year. Since Diwali, the usual catch has sunk because of LED lights used by big trawlers and purse seine nets,” rued Tandel.
The ‘Bhai Bhandarkar Maha Machimar Vishwastanidhi Trust’ Chairman Vijay Bhandarkar said that for the past two years, the fishermen are in the same predicament as the farmers of Maharashtra due to various reasons.
“First, the Oil and Natural Gas Commission keeps expanding and encroaching upon fishing territories. Second, the maritime traffic in the Arabian Sea has gone up considerably since it’s a key global route and all vessels discharge their wastes here,” Bhandarkar told IANS.
Added to this is the massive pollution near the coastal areas with untreated sewage discharged from major cities or towns on the entire coastal Maharashtra, besides Gujarat and Karnataka which has driven away marine life.