Cyclone Hudhud hits seafood, chicken
Supply affected as hundreds of boats lie battered in the city
Visakhapatnam: The cyclone Hudhud that directly hit Vizag city also made fish and chicken dishes become costlier in Vizag.
Even after almost two weeks of the cyclone Hudhud battered the city, the situation appears to be bad for chicken and fish buffs. With hundreds of mechanised boats have been staying moored for past few weeks in the aftermath of cyclone Hudhud battered Vizag city and damaged the hundreds of boats, seafood is in short supply and as a result, their prices shot up.
Of the 700 mechanised boats in Vizag fishing harbour, over 400 have been damaged and 65 have been rendered irreparable or sunk due of the cyclone Hudhud devastation.
A majority of fishermen along the coast have stopped going out to sea for venturing. Similarly, there are 7.5 million poultry birds, including broiler, layers and breeders, spread over in Vizag, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. Of this, more than 3.5 million birds had died and most of the sheds had been blown away due to cyclone.
Vizag city requires around 60 tonnes of seafood (fish, prawn and crabs) a day, but with majority of boats damaged and not being operated, the arrivals of seafood is not more than 10 tonnes. As a result, the prices of some popular varieties such as silver pomfret, seer fish, prawn and few others became very costlier, said Ch. Satyanarayana Murthy, president of Visakha Dolphin Boat Operators’ Association.
Silver pomfret fish price is about Rs 400 a kg before October 12 and now the price ranges between Rs 700 to Rs 800 a kilo, that too the availability of the fish in the market is very low and Vizagites have to wait for more than six weeks to relish seafood, he added.
The unpopular varieties of seafood also become dearer due to shortage of supply to markets as the price of ordinary fish ranged between Rs 130 to Rs 150. On Sunday, chicken price in the city ranged between Rs 175 and Rs 180 a kilo while the price of chicken had cost Rs 140 a kilo before cyclone.
Usually fish and chicken prices are low during Karthika month. But, it’s a different story this year due to cyclone Hudhud, said a fish buff Kalyan Kumar.