Oil price negates a good catch

Despite a pretty decent catch, the mechanised fishing boat operators, who venture into the sea to make a living, have not been able to translate it into good money. Rising diesel prices are washing out their profits.

This even as the 45-day fishing holiday in the state came to an end on June 1.

At present, there are 1,800 mechanised boats operating from Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Machilipatnam, Krishnapatnam and other fishing harbours in the state. After the 45-day holiday, around 65 per cent went on a two-week voyage while the remaining were engaged in one-day and two-day fishing.

The Andhra Pradesh Mechanised Fishing Boat Operators' Association president P Vijay Chandar said that the boats, which went on a two-week voyage, were back with 500 kg of shrimp per voyage, which would fetch them around Rs 1 lakh in the international market.

"Though the boat operators got satisfactory catches, they are not making any profit due to high diesel prices," Chandar said.

"Four-five years back, the diesel price was between Rs 15 and Rs 18 per litre. Now, we have to shell out Rs 30 per litre (including the state and central governments' subsidies). This is severely eating into our earnings," he added.

Each mechanised boat, on an average, consumes around 200 litres of diesel on every fishing day.

"The boats, which go on a two-week voyage, need around 2,400 litres of diesel, which cost around Rs 72,000. Besides, crew salary and other expenses are increasing by the day. Due to this, boat operators are cutting down their fishing voyages," he said.

Around 50 per cent of the 540 mechanised boats operating from the Vizag fishing harbour this time did not venture into the sea due to lack of funds.

Chandar said that apart from this any further fall in shrimp prices in the international market in the coming days would lead to more losses.