Due to the formalin scare the people of Goa are reluctant to buy the fish from the market, and that is the reason even the genuine fisherfolk are losing the business and to avoid that the Goa Boat Owners Association have decided to create three sections in the major wholesale market of Goa.
Accordion to the report published by the Times of India the Boat owners on Tuesday said Goa’s sole wholesale fish market in Margao needed to be divided into three sections one for fish brought in by traders, another for fish caught by trawler owners and the third for fish caught by ramponkars to allow buyers to make informed decisions.
The president of Goa Boat Owners Association Mr. Jose Philip D’Souza spoke to TOI about the solution to the existing formalin scare and business losses for the local fisherfolk.
“A large percentage of Goans has stopped eating fish due to fear of contamination after the formalin scare. This trifurcation will help them choose what they want to eat with the knowledge of where the fish is sourced from,” president of the Goa Fishing Boat Owners’ Association, Jose Philip D’Souza, told TOI.
The story which began with the revocation of licenses of the 33 fish traders by FDA (The Department of Food & Drugs Administration) on 24th October for not complying with the formalities. Two days later, the state government prohibited fish traders who were not registered with the FDA from bringing fish in from the neighboring states.
Traders, however, remained skeptical of the various restrictions and insisted that the government go beyond imposing mere prohibitions.
“Stakeholders are registering themselves and complying with every new norm that the government has been placing after the formalin in fish issue broke out,” D’Souza said, adding that the government needed to form an advisory committee to manage the wholesale fish market, which is presently under the purview of the South Goa Planning and Development Authority.
Although the boat owners have decided to comply with the decision of Government to ban the fish coming from the neighbor states. They are, however, unsure about filling the markets all by themselves due to the insufficient amount of catch.
“The burden will be on us to get more fish, which we will fulfill, but we insist that the government put FDA checks in place for fish testing. Until then, prohibit any fish that comes in from outside,” director of the Chapora Boat Owners’ Fisheries Cooperative Society Ltd, Balbhim Malvankar, said.
“Prices of the fish we bring will rise due to the current shortage, but fluctuating rates are a daily matter. When we have a big catch, the rates will come down.”
The fish owners have clearly motioned that the prices will rise and that is bound to happen as there won’t be any completion from the other vendors who used to procure fish from the neighboring states at cheaper rates.
With this new development, there is no much hope for the fish lovers in Goa unless they want to shell out the major amount on buying fish. What are your views on this? Will common man be able to consume fish?
