Catching them bad

9 July 2012

biswabrata goswami
DIGHA, 9 JULY: The ongoing hilsa season has produced poor catches of the popular fish in the coastal waters, much to the frustration ~ and financial detriment ~ of fishermen and traders.
Fishermen’s families are having a hard time, as catches have not even been sufficient to recover the cost of the necessary deep-sea trips on trawlers.
At least 2,000 fishing trawlers from Digha, Sankarpur, Soula, Petuaghat, Jalda, New Jalda and Junput have already gone to sea to catch hilsa from the coastal waters, but this year the catches are much smaller than expected.
Mr Shyamsundar Das, the secretary of the Digha Fishermen and Traders’ Association, alleged that foreign fishing trawlers sneak into the Indian territorial waters every day and catch fish from the Sandhead area. “But our government overlooks the matter even after we have made repeated complaints,” he said.
According to fishermen, over 300 fishing trawlers and boats from Digha Mohona and Sankarpur have gone out of business in the last two years due to the increasing fuel prices and scanty catches ~ of hilsa, in particular. Compared to previous years, fishermen of Digha and Sankarpur have been suffering profound financial losses as the catch of hilsa has failed to reach expected levels this year.
Usually, during monsoon, the fishermen make the majority of their annual returns from the booty of the sea, with hilsa being their prime catch.
In addition to their ill luck with catches at sea, ill luck of getting a good catch from the sea, fishermen are facing higher costs for ~ including for fuel. The fishermen, therefore, have been compelled to use kerosene with additives to run their trawlers, which generally use diesel.
Many fishing boats financed by banks have been confiscated as they did not prove to be economically viable.
“June to October is generally considered the hilsa-catching season in India,” said fisherman Sheikh Sarifat Ali (40), of Digha Mohona.
"We went to the deep sea with 14 fishermen and came back to the shore on Friday after 12 days," Mr Ali said. "We were able to catch only 1.5 tonnes of hilsa, which sold for Rs 30,000 whereas we have to spend about Rs 80,000 in a trip. During this time last year we caught 25 to 30 tonnes of hilsa per trip."
Fisherman Lakshmikanta Bar, of Jalda, said they are now worried about paying back loan they took from a mohajon (money lender) as they are not getting enough hilsa.
Meanwhile, price of the fish has also shot up beyond the purchasing capacity of the common people, due to poor netting. Hilsas weighing between 800 grams and 1,200 grams are selling at Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 a kilogram, while those weighing between 500 grams and 800 grams are being offered at prices ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200. The price of hilsa weighing 250 grams to 350 grams, is between Rs 600 to Rs 800 in the retail markets of East and West Midnapore districts.