Chennai fish panic spills over to Kovai, Salem

Despite the state government’s repeated assurance to allay the fears over consuming sea fish in the aftermath of oil spill triggered by collision of two ships off the Chennai coast, there were no takers in Chennai and now a similar situation is threatening the two western districts too. 

While the sale has nosedived by 30 to 50 per cent in Coimbatore, the situation was even more worse in Salem and its nearby areas with traders complaining of 75 per cent crash in sale. Secretary of Ukkadam Retail Fish Merchants Association, M H Abbas told DTNext said that the Coimbatore market gets only a limited quantity of fish from Chennai as it is 500 km away from the city. A majority of the load comes from Nagapattinam, Rameswaram Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari and parts of Kerala. Shockingly, customers here are scared to purchase fish. 

“We get fish mostly from Nagapattinam, Rameswaram, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari and from various parts of Kerala. The reason is variety and quantity are good from these destinations, compared to the supply from Chennai. Regular customers buy without any apprehension, but some who are not aware of this supply chain avoid buying fish,” he said. He added that fishes sold in the Chennai market are from deep sea, which is not affected by the spill. 

In Salem region, the sale has crashed by nearly 75 per cent. Traders at the VOC Fish Market in Salem claimed that, they were able to sell only 2.5 tonnes per day now, which generally used to be 10 tonnes per day prior to the oil spill issue. They claimed that 50 per cent of the fish supply to Salem was from Chennai. The rest would come from the southern coastal districts and Mangalore (Karnataka). Traders in Salem said that customers have switched to other non-vegetarian items like chicken and mutton. Hotels were also witnessing a substantial dip in sale of sea fish dishes. 

“We have reduced the price of fish by close to 30 per cent, but it has not helped us. The government should create awareness among people that sea fish is safe and help sellers,” fish trader M Shanmugam added.  Fish sellers have reduced buying from the coastal fishermen and traders due to the drop in sale, to avert a loss as it is a perishable item and they cannot take the risk of stocking it. They expect the sale to pick up from Sunday.