Chennai gets the bulk of its seafood supply from the coastline along neighbouring States. However, fears about the oil spill polluting Chennai’s coastline affecting the quality of marine life sent sales of fish plummeting on Tuesday.
According to wholesalers in Chintadripet, the fish catch from Kasimedu contributes to only 5-10 % of the city’s consumption. However, customers are hesitant to buy fish following the news of oil spill polluting the coastline and the fish sales has dropped by nearly 50%. G.R. Apparaj, a fish wholesaler said it is difficult to find fish near the coast as they have gone deeper into sea after the oil spill. “We get only small fishes like Ayilai (mackerel) and Sankara (red snapper) near Kasimedu. Chennai’s fish market get its main supply from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and even Odisha,” he said.
Chennai gets nearly 130 tonnes of fish daily from other places and, of this, nearly 25 tonnes are brought to Chintadripet fish market for sale.
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Another wholesaler, A.Karunakaran, said prices of some fishes like seer and black pomfret had dropped by half in Chintadripet on Tuesday as customers were hesitant to buy fish.
“There is no need to fear about the fish consumption as most varieties are sourced from other States. The fish markets in Maduravoyal and retail outlets too had fewer customers,” he said.
Environmentalists too note that the fishes would have gone deeper into sea in search of dissolved oxygen to survive.
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A. Navaneetha Gopalakrishnan, former director, Centre for Environmental Studies, Anna University, said the oil spill close to the coast would have a severe impact on dissolved oxygen levels and marine life cannot survive.
