the goan I network
MARGAO
As fish-loving Goans brace for a two-month ban on fishing, beginning from June 1, the question doing the rounds in the fish markets ahead of the ban is whether the government would permit import of fish from the country’s East coast as fishing activities along the west coast in Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat will come to a complete halt.
This question assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the massive formalin-in-fish controversy that had kicked up a storm across the State in July last year during the ban period after preliminary tests by the FDA at Goa’s lone wholesale fish market had confirmed the presence of formalin in fish imported from the East coast.
The question assumes further significance given that the Goa government had opened the state borders for import of fish only for fish-insulated vehicles coming from the neighbouring States of Maharashtra and Karnataka. With the two-month fishing ban to be applicable for both Maharashtra and Karnataka as well, one question that remains unanswered is whether the Goa government would permit fish traders to import fish from distant Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu along the country’s east coast.
This question has become all the more relevant with just four days to go for curtains to come down on the current fishing season on May 31 and raises a pertinent question whether fish from the east coast can be imported sans preservatives and is fit for human consumption given the long hours taken to transport
he fish to the State.
President of the Wholesale fish traders Association, Maulana Ibrahim was unavailable for comment as he presently holed up abroad. FDA Director Jyoti Sardesai did not respond to calls.
Wholesale fish traders as well as retail vendors seemed to have no idea what lies in store for them during the ban period, even though a prominent wholesale fish trader told The Goan that fish imported into the State for the moment not only comes from the neighbouring states of Maharashtra and Karnataka, but other States as well. “I feel there’s no need to ban the import of fish during the ban period if the consignment is checked and tested at the State border. The wholesale fish traders have been demanding that the FDA even check the fish right at the wholesale fish market at Margao, but to no avail’, the trader said, adding “there should not be any problem if the imported fish is tested at the border or the wholesale fish market before being allowed for sale to the retail fish vendors”.
After the controversy had hit the wholesale fish market in July last, the government had imposed a ban on the arrival of outside fish into the state till the first week of August last year. The government later re-imposed the ban around November after the controversy literally created a trust deficit amongst fish-loving Goans about the quality of the fish available in the markets. The ban was finally lifted on the eve of the Christmas after the Public Health department imposed a host of conditions on the wholesale fish traders, including the condition mandating them to register themselves with the FDA, transportation of the fish only in insulated vehicles etc.
