KOLLAM: Clam meat from Kollam is gaining worldwide fame after it was certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in UK recently. However, the fishermen earn very little when compared to the price of clam in the global market.
A clam fisherman’s day begins at four in the morning in the waters of the Ashtamudi here. Clam fishing has become a traditional activity for the people of Dalawapuram and Thekkumbhagom, which are some of the rarest sites for clam in the State.
Each household on Sebastian Island near Dalawapuram makes a living from clam fishing. “We used to deliver around 5,000 kg of clam daily, which has come down to as low as 500 kg.
What we get for a kg of clam is very low when compared to the market price,” said Moses Abraham, a clam fisherman.
These fishermen are at the mercy of middlemen because of the advance they take from them.“The advance we take which runs into thousands, forces us to be loyal to them. Clam is sorted according to their size under the names 900, 1400, and 1,700 for which we get only Rs 84, Rs 74, and Rs 63 per kilo respectively.
The middlemen sell them at higher margins, while we go back to our eternal struggle,” Moses added.
Fishermen usually get a clam catch weighing up to 10 kg a day. Clam fishing is banned from December to February, which are months of struggle for them.
India exports about 784 tonnes of clam annually, of which over 80% are from the Astamudi lake. Around 3,000 fishermen depend on clam fishing to make a living.
