Panaji: Fish prices have almost doubled up as the supply has been affected due to the drop in catch in the State. Vendors in the Panaji market say that the price of fish have been constantly rising since the last two months.
" The fish price has gone up by almost 100 per cent as supply has decreased due to lack of catch. Our business has also been affected as the number of customers has also decreased due to rise in prices," fish cutter Ansad Shaikh told GT.
Fishes like verli (anchovy) and pedhi (hilsa) which were earlier sold at Rs 100 per kg are now being sold at Rs 300 per kg and Rs 200 per kg respectively. Small fish like lepo (sole fish) which was earlier sold at Rs 100 for a small portion is being sold at Rs 200-250 for the same quantity. A kilo of king fish now costs a whooping Rs 800-850 which was earlier Rs 400 per kg.
Fish vendor Albertina Rodrigues exudes that she is running in losses as the customers are reluctant to buy fish in large quantity which otherwise was a common practice. "After paying the wages of my daily workers, I used to save a thousand or so every day. But now there is no way of saving rather I have to pay from my pocket," Rodrigues said.
Bharat Naigaonkar, a frequent consumer of fish said, "The cutthroat prices of fishes are making holes in the pockets of common man. I am a regular fish buyer but now we have to cut down our consumption due the high prices."