Traditional fishermen along the Salcete coastline are a happy lot as they have netted a bumper catch of prawns. Huge quantities were directly sold to fish traders after satisfying local markets. Villagers flocked to the beach to buy fish and prawns directly at source. Each canoe owner caught a tonne of the seasonal shrimp on an average. Solar prawns surface for a short period of time — seven to 10 days — in the Arabian Sea. There are roughly around 120 canoes fishing along the Salcete coastal belt.
While the men brought in the catch, their women were busy selling it to villagers and local fish vendors to be sold in villages. Many vendors were seen in various villages selling shrimps and fish bought at the beach. Traditional fishermen were sceptical about the police raiding them given that some canoes had been seized at Velsao beach last week and their catch confiscated. Fishermen, who did not want to be named, said they approached fisheries minister Nilkanth Harlankar to explain their plight. They told the minister that this is the only time they can earn some money and that within a week’s time mechanised fishing will commence and trawler owners with better equipment and speed will romp home with large catches leaving them with nothing.