Margao: As the dust settles on the recent controversy involving a clash between Goa trawler owners and the fishing community from Malvan and the wholesale traders at Margao fish market, one long standing demand has received unanimous support from the local fishing community- their rightful space at the fish market in Margao.
The wholesale fish market at Margao is not only a major source of fish supplies for Goa but to neighbouring places like Hubli, Belgaum, Sawantwadi, Kudal and Khanpur markets as well.
The recent ban on inter-state fish at the fish market crippled the sale of fish across Goa in markets like Canacona, Mapusa and Ponda. Due to this, the trawler owners received a lot of criticism including from Chief Minister Laxmikant Parasekar who ordered police security at the Margao wholesale fish market in order to prevent any such physical blocking of fish from Malvan that had led to traders calling for the ban.
However, the unilateral decision taken by the traders has triggered anger amongst the Goans and this sentiment was echoed repeatedly at the meeting held at the Margao police headquarters to sort out the differences between the Maharashtra and Goan fishing community. What upset the trawler owners further were the attempts of the wholesale traders to try and get the ban imposed, unsuccessfully at the retail market as well. The trawler owners managed to offer some relief for the public, however by making sure fish was provided.
“A handful of traders have called for this fishing ban when there was proper communication with the traders not to allow fish from Malvan, given our ongoing dispute and we were made to look like the bad guys after all the inter-state fish was banned,” complained a trawler owner.
Another trawler owner, Jose Barreto pointed out that it was sad that the rates and margins are decided by non-Goans and the Goan fishing community do not have space at the wholesale fish market that was made for them. Michael Pereira, ex-president of Goa fishing boat owners association voiced his support to other state fishing communities selling their fish directly at the market.
Minguel Rodrigues, Chairman of South Goa Mechanized Trawler Owner Cooperation and Marketing Society played a key role in helping the situation return to normal. He was part of the delegation of Goa trawler owners who visited Malvan to try and ensure peace was maintained after the trawlers were damaged and equipment and staff badly beaten up. He was also one of the key negotiators on behalf of the Goan fishing community at the meeting held between the Malvan fishing group and the Goan fishing community and helped them arrive at a consensus.
The local trawler owners will come together shortly to discuss the deliberations of the meeting and the suggestions put forward by the Malvan fishing community. At this meeting, the trawler owners conveyed to the fisheries department that it was the government who had encouraged them to take up mechanized trawling from their earlier business of ramponkars and that the Margao market had been promised as a platform for them to sell their fish.
Speaking about the existing system, trawler owner association members and ramponkar association members rue the fact that the local fishermen were forced to sell most of their their fish outside Goa and to factories while most of the fish available at the Goan market that is being bought by Goan customers is coming from outside Goa.
Furthermore, they wish to dispel the prevailing notion or misconception that local fishermen and trawler owners are only interested in selling to factories, hotels and states outside Goa.
They blame three things – the middlemen or the trader network at the jetty and market, the lack of proper infrastructure to store and transport fish to the market and finally the absence of any demarcated space at the wholesale fish market for the local fishermen to sell their catch.
Mechanised trawler owners say that 10 percent of their total catch is sent to the markets and they don’t have much control on the rates. Secondly, the traders at the jetty have capitalized on the need for instant gratification on the part of some trawler owners who wish to make money by selling the catch on the same day itself as opposed to a strategic long term marketing plan. “Look at the wholesale fish market. They get fish from outside Goa which is stored in insulated boxes and kept for more than a day. The traders will make sure that this fish is sold and it is brought in very early in the day,” said Rodrigues. “When we try to transport our fish, there is no cold storage facility for us to preserve it and our timings are dependent on the sea. When we get our catch it is unfortunately always a case of us being late because of the trader’s monopoly of the market” he added.
Rodrigues cautioned that fish from outside Goa is important as it caters to the requirements of the public but appealed to the state government to make sure that they have their dedicated space where they can come anytime and sell their fish.
In the recent case, trawler owners clarified that they were not using the threat of banning fish from Malvan as a bargaining chip to allow them to travel to Malvan and that it was only a temporary measure.
He pointed out that currently they were not allowed to do the same and added there were many more irregularities at the market which they would put a stop to. It maybe recalled that officials of the legal metrology department had been assaulted at the wholesale market when they tried to confiscate and seize weights and other equipment which the government department had found to be in violation of rules. The police had to be called in to ensure the safe exit of the officials of the legal metrology department.
“I also propose that the state government ensures that mobile storage facility is launched across Goa and not just in one place so that the poor people get their fish at affordable rates,” said Rodrigues.
The trawler owners have further insisted that the fisheries department provides the necessary infrastructure to help them sell and transport fish at the market. “What we need is a cold storage facility to freeze the fish either at the market or the jetty. There is no such facility at the moment and this is a great hindrance as we need to preserve the fish in order to sell in bulk,” said Rodrigues.
One of the major changes the trawler owners want to bring about at the market has not much to do with fish or the prices but the overall cleanliness and hygiene. Since the market has started, this has been a recurring complaint from local residents and customers who have knocked on the doors of the South Goa district collector and Margao Municipal Council (MMC) as the stench was unbearable.
An Effluent Treatment Plant that was proposed to be constructed to treat the waste water at the market but there were always technical difficulties. The dumping of thermocol baskets which are used to store fish was also a cause for concern for the MMC.
