Rameswaram: In a throwback to the grim memories of the pre-Tsunami moments of December 2004, people of Rameswaram found to their shock and surprise that the sea water had receded by about 400 metres early on Tuesday.
Patches along the coast in the pilgrim-island suddenly turned dry, uncovering a lot of plastic and other wastes that had been submerged along the coast earlier, even as the sea looked afar from the coast, making life very difficult for fishermen.
As the sea water receded, mechanised and country-made boats hit the sandy surface and could not steer their boats right up to the fishing harbour. Fishermen who returned with their fish catch today could not land their fish and experienced great difficulty in engaging bullock carts to transport the fish from their boats to the shore, said Rathnakumar a fisherman here.
This had its repercussions in the fish market and on fish prices today. First the delay in bringing the catch to the shore to the market meant traders having to use more additional ice blocks to be stored in anticipation of delayed arrival of fishes. That in turn meant additional costs for the traders, reflecting in lower prices for fishermen's catch.
The sea receding is not a new phenomenon, but the volume f fish catch also came down, he added.
