Visakhapatnam: At a time when the people are burdened with the soaring prices of vegetables and essentials, fish has also become costly, even when the new fishing season has resumed in the north coastal districts.
A majority of the popular varieties of fish are out of consumers' reach due to low availability.
Vendors say the prices are soaring as fishermen are catching more prawns than fish from the Bay of Bengal this fishing season, which resumed around 10 days ago after a 61-day ban.
Seafood lovers, who reached the fishing harbour and a few retail markets on Sunday to purchase fish and prawn, lamented that prices of many popular variety of fish have increased abnormally.
The price of most popular variety, Silver Pomfret, locally known as Chanduva fish, is about Rs 700 a kg at the Fishing Harbour while in retail markets, it was priced at Rs 800-Rs 1,000 a kg. Similarly, the price of another fish variety, Seer (Konam), is around Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 a kg.
The Silver Pomfret variety has almost disappeared from the markets in the city. Some popular varieties of fish have become very costly, said K. Siva Kumar, a seafood lover in the city.
It is being said that popular varieties of fish have turned dearer due to low catch and that there is no other option than to wait for a couple of weeks to relish seafood.
Sources in the fishing sector say that the fishermen are getting more prawns than fish this season due to unfavourable weather conditions. However, people can enjoy a variety of prawns as they are available at an affordable price.
