Visakhapatnam: Bad weather and low-catch is the reason behind fishing coming to a standstill in Vizag. Nearly 70 per cent of the 700-odd mechanised boats were anchored in Vizag fishing harbour. Although there was no major warning from the Meteorological Department about any storm in the sea, strong winds kept the fishermen away from sea for a week.
The sea was rough and the weather worried the fishermen and this has affected the fishing activity and seafood turning dearer said that the popular varieties such as silver pomfret locally known as Chanduva fish price is about 1,000 a kg a kg in the retail markets and similarly, the price of another well-liked fish variety Seer (Konam) has gone up to Rs 900 from Rs 600 while the price of tiger prawn has touched to Rs 1,200 a kg from Rs 700 and the small prawn is also high at Rs 500 a kg due to low availability.
The marine pollution has hit hard to our livelihood. There is no catch in the ocean and we used to spend over Rs 25,000 for diesel and roughly around Rs 2.5 lakh for a single voyage but the returns are very low. Unable to meet the investment, most of the boats were anchored said, president of Dolphin Boat Operators’ Welfare Association Ch Satyanarayana Murthy.
