Poor rain: Balurghat markets face crisis in supply of fish

balurghat: As most of the ponds and water bodies have dried up due to lack of rain, there has been an acute crisis in supply of fish at Balurghat market. Scattered rainfall in the month of June is not enough to improve the situation.

Local fish market of Balurghat is largely dependent on these ponds and water bodies located on the outskirts of the city. Once a major breeding spot of Rohu, Carp, Climbing-fish, Lobster, Scorpion-fish, Squeaking-fish, Trout and Walking-fish the ponds and water bodies are drying up mainly due to the lack of adequate rainfall.

A local fish trader of Balurghat Sudhir Haldar said: “We are largely dependent on local ponds, tanks and waterbodies for the supply of fish. Now they are all dried up due to the lack of rain over the past two months triggering the crisis in the market.”

Another fish trader Pravas Haldar echoed the same and said: “There has been no supply of fish at Balurghat market from outside including Kolkata and Siliguri. So the fish traders like us are mostly dependent on the supply of fish from the ponds and other water bodies situated just outskirts of Balurghat. Inadequate supply of fish, the price has gone high too and our business is hampered.”

According to him, this year the situation is completely different in comparison to previous years as there had been no negative impact on the supply of fish.“There had been parity between the supply and the demand. This year the demand has been the same but the supply has dropped,” he said.

Local fishermen have also been facing trouble due to the scarcity of water in the local water bodies. A fisherman Kartik Haldar said: “Fishing is my principal profession. I used to catch fish from the ponds, tanks and wetlands to sell them to the wholesale fish market in Balurghat. As now all those have dried up, my fishing profession is facing a severe crisis. I am now workless. If the same drought-like situation continues, I have to think about shifting my profession.”