MARGAO
Even as the traditional fishermen netted bumper catch of the solar shrimp on Monday, tonnes of the prized shrimp went waste and caused a loss of income to the fishing community for want of fish agents and availability of ice.
Sources informed that after the fishermen returned with tonnes of solar shrimp, they soon encountered the problem of disposing of the catch to the agents.
With just a lone agent making his presence felt at the landing points at Colva and Benaulim, the delay in procuring the shrimp and storing the same in cold storage facility left the shrimp stale and rotting late evening.
A walk on the Colva beach on Tuesday revealed that shrimp was found dead on the beach, indicating that the fishermen faced the difficulty of quick disposal of the catch for want of agents and cold storage facility.
Sources at Benaulim informed that a fish agent brought a kilogram of shrimp on Monday evening for Rs 20 as it was turning stale. A kilogram of solar shrimp had commanded a wholesale rate of Rs 100-110 at the landing point on Monday morning.
Rough estimates have put the quantity of solar shrimp going to waste at the two beaches at over 20 tonnes.
Tuesday saw a couple of fish agents making their presence felt at Colva and Benaulim to procure the catch. Unlike Monday, however, fishermen returned with a poor catch of the solar shrimp on Tuesday.
A couple of the country-made motorized boats returned with a moderate quantity of mackerel.
The fishermen are now hoping for a brief wet spell, saying the continuous dry spell has come in the way of netting the prized shrimp.
