It’s a bountiful catch at Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour post the annual fishing ban period

It’s 6am. Driving along the coast in Visakhapatnam, the harbour bobbing with brightly-coloured boats paints a pretty picture. A sharp left turn after the Naval Coastal Battery brings one closer to the Fishing Harbour, where it is all a hustle and bustle.

Heaps of baskets spilling over with prawns, crabs, vanjaram (king fish), silvery nethallu and konam (seer fish) are placed inch-to-inch on the ground. Behind these are rows of trawlers waiting to unload their catch. The sound of waves is drowned by loud calls of auctioneers calling out prices for huge baskets of prawn, followed by tough negotiations between suppliers and fishermen. Here, it’s a battle of emotions. Nobody has time to spare as a minute’s delay means losing the auction.

The Fishing Harbour in Visakhapatnam, the largest fish landing facility in Andhra Pradesh, has sprung back to life with the end of the 61-day annual fishing ban period. The fishermen who set out on their first voyage, for a period of a week or so, have returned with a bountiful catch.

The morning sun beats down mercilessly on us, but S Ramesh is unperturbed as he closely inspects the catch of his mechanised trawler, wherein a group of fishermen ventured into the sea for six days to come back with a rich harvest of brown shrimp. “The catch has been good,” he says curtly, sparing not a second more as he gets back to work. Beside him, K Satyamma carries baskets of shrimp to auction them for him.

Of the 700 total mechanised boats in the Visakhapatnam Fishing Harbour, 60% ventured into the sea once the ban was lifted. Each boat has returned with a haul of 250 to 300 kilograms of prawns.

However, fishermen and boat owners on the whole are not happy due to a fall in price for their catch for exports.

The price of brown shrimp has fallen by over ₹100 per kilogram this season. The price of tiger prawns which was ₹1,100 per kilogram last season has fallen to ₹900, while the white and brown are priced at ₹300 and ₹350 per kilogram from ₹500 a year ago.

“Though the catch from the first voyage has been good, the brown shrimp is not fetching us a remunerative price,” rues Suraida Satyanarayana, general secretary, Visakha Dolphin Boat Operators Welfare Association. Fishermen and boat owners blame it on the increase in trading of Vannemei (white-leg shrimp farmed for consumption), an exotic aquaculture species, now high in demand in export markets for its taste and affordability. “The rising cost of diesel too is making things difficult for us,” he adds.

The surge in prices of ice and essential supplies has resulted in high operational costs, preventing many of them from undertaking long voyages, which costs ₹3.5 lakh to ₹4 lakh for the diesel and crew.

During the ban period, boats are repaired and fishing nets are prepared. “New nets are purchased too. We spent close to ₹2.5 lakh for boat overhauling and repairs this time,” says Appa Rao, who owns a mechanised trawler.

Besides brown shrimp, fishermen have returned with miscellaneous fish mainly used for sale as dried fish and a good harvest of three-spot crab along with a moderate catch of blue crab. Pomfret and other high-value fish barring brown shrimp have turned rare this time. The priced tuna is also hard to spot among the catch of the first batch of mechanised boats that returned to the harbour.

Fishermen are bringing in ribbonfish by the tonnes these days. This signals more income for over 5,000 fishermen families who depend on dried fish and other allied sectors for a living.

The roofs of mechanised trawlers glisten with silvery fish, all laid out for drying while they return to the coast from deep seas. “There is a good market for dried fish and this season we have a plenty in hand. We sell it for ₹200 per share, which is more than a kilogram,” says A Dhana Laxmi, who has been selling dried fish for over 30 years. Like her, there are over a 100 women in the Fishing Harbour who depend on dried fish for a living. Andhra Pradesh is one of the biggest manufacturers of dried fish in the country along with Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

Near Dhana Laxmi are huge thermocol containers ready to be mounted on transport vehicles. Two lanes away from the cacophony of the market is S K Raju’s Sree Guru Agencies. Here, the first lot of brown prawns, Asian tiger shrimps and some blue crabs arrive in ice-laden crates. These will finally go to foreign shores. Visakhapatnam sends most of its fish export to Mumbai from where it is shipped to countries such as Japan, USA, parts of Europe, Korea and China. “This time the catch of blue crab is less, but it has a high demand. So prices are a bit higher,” says Raju.

But he is hopeful of getting the desired size and quantity of blue crabs in the trawlers that are expected to return later this week. Raju sponsors over a dozen trawlers, that in turn let him have the first pick. This way, he gets a hold of the best catch which has led him to make a name for himself in the market.