Mechanised fishing boat owners were a disappointed lot when the first fleet of boats that went to the sea after the 47-day trawling ban ended on Monday midnight, returned to the Shakthikulangara-Neendakara twin fishing harbours on Tuesday morning.
Since it was the season of the export-oriented karikadi (marine shrimp) off the Kollam waters, fishermen had expected rich harvest on the first few days. But on Tuesday the catch brought by the boats belied their expectations.
Karikadi is a species of shrimp found only off the Kollam coast during the start of the monsoon season. As the monsoon wanes, these shrimp start disappearing only to appear next year.
The catch on Tuesday comprised karikadi and kazhanthan shrimps and kilimeen.
None of the boats were able to net squids or cuttlefish worth the mention. Kilimeen sold for ₹5,000 a basket at the auction hall. Karikadi fetched price ranging from ₹2,000 to ₹2,500 a basket and kazhanthan in the vicinity of ₹4,000 a basket.
Prices high
Peter Mathias, general secretary of the Kollam District Fishing Boat Operators Association, said that in spite of the low catch, boat owners in general did not suffer losses and that was because the prices at the auction hall ruled high on Tuesday.
A couple of boats with kilimeen had even earned more than ₹1 lakh each.
He said that fishermen are complaining about Kollam waters being infested with heavy shoals of jellyfish and that this hampered fishing activity as huge quantities of jellyfish was getting entangled in nets.
Mr. Peter said that it is this good price factor that saved the boat operators on the first day.
There is no guarantee that this price will remain steady on Wednesday when more boats arrive.
He said that about 800 boats sailed from the twin harbours last night and about 150 returned with catch by noon and about 200 by evening.
The bigger boats which went for fishing were expected to return only after a week at sea.