In the past three days, kingfish has turned out to be the prized catch of the fishermen along the Benaulim-Colva coast. These fishermen have netted tonnes of big-size kingfish, besides the usual fish comprising of mackerels and other varieties.
Obviously the markets were flooded with large quantities of big-sized kingfish which should have brought down the price drastically. However it was not the case. There was not much reduction in the retail price of the fish. Fish happens to be the staple food of Goans. However it is beyond the reach of the poor and at times even beyond the reach of people belonging to the middle-income group.
Fish happens to be the only food commodity which is not sold by weight in several fish markets in the state. The retail price of the fish sold is dependent entirely on the fish-vendor.
Very small fish could be allowed to be sold in shares. But the medium sized and big fish like the kingfish need to be sold by weight only.
That way the general public will not feel cheated and get true value for their money. There needs to be some uniformity in the price of fish being sold in the market.
