By Team Mangalorean - Mangalore

MANGALORE, November 11, 2009: The fish vending shops opened recently by the Karnataka Fisheries Development Corporation (KFDC) in August is facing the ire of the fishermen. Groups of fishermen have expressed their opposition to continuation of the shop and want the KFDC to close them down. They argue that the fish vending shops are luring away the high value customers from the common markets which have affected their sales in the common markets.

The fishermen organizations in the city had expressed the fears of this eventuality even before the first air conditioned shop that was opened in Urva Chilimbi in August. According to fishermen leader Sathish Baikampady "the KFDC is planning to open few more shops in Mangalore city like Surathkal, Bejai, Valencia and many more places which will fully capture the consumers as the consumers will like to buy fish in more sterile conditions that the new markets offer.

In the meanwhile the KFDC which has gone overdrive into expansion mode has bought up shop space in various places at market prices and has also started doing up the interiors and refrigeration and air conditioning. "This is an alarming situation" says Mr. Baikampady. "Our survival as common market operators has been challenged, we get only people who consume low value fishes like sardines while all other high value fish consumers will go to the air conditioned shops divesting us of our legitimate profits. We also vend in high value fishes like Seer, Pomfrets, Shrimps, Prawns, Ribbonfish and various types of perches, all these items are also being sold in the air conditioned shops of the KFDC."

Speaking to Mangalorean.com com Chairman of the KFDC Mr. Ramachander Baikampady however said the sales of fish in common markets will not be affected. "We are targeting only 0.5 per cent of the total high value market and most of the users of the common markets do not come to our shops as they would like to bargain and buy, in our shops the prices are fixed, moreover our rates were on the higher side. We sell dressed Sardines at a cost of Rs. 70 which is available in the common markets at a cost of Rs. 20.  High value varieties like Pomfrets, Seer, various types of Crustaceans and anchovies are also highly priced. They are more than 70 per cent higher than the common market prices" he added.

But looking at the rush to buy fish from the KFDC outlets, one can see that there are a good number of consumers who throng the new KFDC shops. "We have our right to shop for our fish in clean environment. We would not mind going to the common market also but let the fish vendors there keep their surrounding clean say the consumers.

It is indeed a filthy affair there, but that is the least of the problems of the fishermen. The Mangalore City Corporation has not paid attention to maintain the cleanliness of the market, there is no water to wash the floors and open drains and dirty concrete floors enhance the danger of fish being infected with dangerous pathogens.

It could be recalled here that when Mr. K. Diwakar was the Mayor of Mangalore City Corporation he had taken a delegation to Margao in Goa to study the designing of fish markets there, but after that nothing appear to have happened in improving the markets and the fishermen are still laboring under the same unhygienic conditions of vending fish.