News
Fish market a microcosm of national calamity
View(s):By Yoshitha Perera
Sri Lanka’s fishing community is increasingly frustrated with the chronic fuel shortage that is also paralysing the whole economy.
Aruna Roshan Fernando, president of the All-Island Fishermens’ Trade Union, said no one is in charge of the industry.
“There is no programme in existence, nor has there ever been one to improve, maintain, or defend the fishing industry,” he said.
Fishermen are only allowed 20-30 litres of fuel, although they need 60-70 litres a day.
P.M. Karunaratne now sells stringhoppers. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
“This problem may be ended if the government made fuel storage facilities for fishermen a priority. Despite having offices all over the country, the Fisheries Ministry has no plan to address the problem and it is not offering any solutions,” Mr. Fernando claimed.
Multi-day vessels have been idling.
Even single-day fishing boats are not going out to the sea because fuelling stations are refusing to fill cans, said the co-ordinator of the National Fisheries Solidarity Organization, Anthony Jesudasan.
The dire situation is evident at the Peliyagoda Fish Market, the central market for fish trading.
P.M. Karunaratne used to come to the market every morning with a box on the back of his bicycle to buy fish to sell to residents of Sedawatta, Wellampitiya.
He has been in the trade for over 31 years, but in the past two-and-a-half months, he has been not able to buy fish due to higher prices. He now sells string hoppers.
Sarath Premaratne, a wholesale trader dealing in prawn and crab for over 15 years at the central fish market, said: “The price of fish has gone up significantly. A kilo of Salaya now sells around Rs. 600-Rs 700 where it used to be Rs. 250 per kilo. A kilo of prawn is Rs. 1,500 and a kilo of crab is Rs. 1,200.’’
Orders from hotels have dropped significantly, he said while adding that shrimp and crab, which usually are sold out in the mornings, remain unsold even at noon.
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