Kujang: Freshwater fish has been missing from the platter in every household of the state due to a decline in production and rise in prices even with coastal fish markets in Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts heavily depending on supplies from Andhra Pradesh.
According to a report, Paradip and Kujang in Jagatsinghpur and Mahakalapara and other seaside areas of Kendrapara were once the hub of freshwater and saline fish.
However, a fall in fish production over the years and a sharp rise in price of freshwater fish have led to vanishing of freshwater fish from local markets. This has forced the traders of coastal districts to depend on Rohu and Bhakur supplied from the neighbouring state.
Twenty years ago, fishermen used to get plentiful of catch from rivers Paika, Mahanadi, Hansua, Brudha and Haladipani in Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara. Fish catch from creeks and canals was also high. This can be gauged from the fact that the majority of the fishermen families in the state are settled in Kujang, Erasama, Mahakalapara and Paradip regions.
While Rohu, Bhakur, Hilsa, Mirkali, Potei, Khanga and Nali were found aplenty in rivers, small fish like Karandi, Kantia, Pohala, Khasuli, Balia, Gadisha, Phali, Rata, Magur and Kau were found in ponds and tanks. Prawn varieties like Kantala, Bagda and crabs were also abundantly available in the two districts.
There was a time when truckloads of freshwater fish produced from Kujang and Paradip were transported to other districts as well as outside the state.
However, things started changing with the advent of industrialisation in Paradip. Many water bodies were covered up to make way for industrialisation while many rivers which were once full of water dried up at many places and even altered their courses.
The toxic waste discharged from industrial units in Paradip led to extinction of fish species. Moreover, rampant use of pesticides for crop protection adversely affected the fish population.
One of the major factors affecting fish population is construction of levees alongside rivers. This process of catching fish actually prevents the fish from swimming freely in rivers and leads eventually to get trapped in nets of fishermen.
The Mahanadi river mouth in Bay of Bengal, which was major sources of saline fish, was dug out for the last time in 1998 and was made 13 mt deep.
Since then, the river mouth has not been dug out for which the region is always remaining turbulent resulting in dwindling catch and increasing mishaps.
Fishermen had for long been demanding excavation of the river mouth, but to no avail. The state government took over the fishing jetty in 2011 but nothing has changed since then, local fishermen said.
Fishermen leaders Pitambar Tarai and Jagyenshwar Rout blamed rapid industrialisation for decline in fish production.
This has hit the economy of the region and has deprived the fishermen of their livelihood, social activist Ranjan Kumar Das claimed. PNN