Godavari river deprived of Pulasa in Vizag

pnbspPeople are taking rounds to places where the boats were anchored in certain pockets at three tributaries of River Godavari – Vainateya Vasistha and Gowtam for the rare fishppLack of conservation overfishing and pollution cause the dwindling number of the famous Pulasa fish in River GodavarippThe catch of Pulasa has come down abnormally this year compared to last yearppnbspFishermen got only a few in the month of August which is the main month of the catchppWe hardly earned only Rs 10000 till date because there was no catch We only got small ones weighing half a kilogram Usually we would get Rs one lakh by the end of August one of the fishermen in Yanam VPothuraju saidppTwo kilograms of Pulasa fish was sold for a whopping price Rs 17000 at Yanam surroundings a few days ago Earlier people used to buy Pulasa Rs 2000 per kg Pulasa also known asnbsphilsanbspornbsptenualosa ilisha is a migratory fish and appears in River Godavari in Monsoon It would come for breeding in this seasonppAccording to fisheries department officials there were around 40 tonnes of catch two decades ago Now it has come to two to four tonnes of catch The statistics are not perfect as we never calculated the catchppBecause it is a migratory fish called Hilsa when it is in the sea It will come for breeding in the River Godavari basin in the monsoon season When it comes to saltwater to freshwater many changes would take place in the fish and its taste would also change the Additional Director of Fisheries in East Godavari P Koteswara Rao told TOIppPeople would make the advance payment to the fishermen of Dowleswaram Yanam Kotipalli and other parts of East Godavari Fishermen also interestingly go for the catch of Pulasa as they would get more money than the routine varietiesppThere was no chance of breeding of the fish as there is no fisheries engagement and fishermen are eagerly catching the fish where size doesnrsquot matterppIt has been resulting in the gradual depreciation of the numbers Pulasa is tastier due to fatty acids in the fish and the fat content would be 20 to 30 in itppThere was no breeding of Pulasa in the state Research and development should be taken by the government A study should be conducted conservation and management aspects should also be taken care ofrdquo a researcher in Zoology P Srinivasa Rao saidppConservation of Hilsa is around 60 70 in Bangladesh because the country has sanctuaries conservation period and also gear restrictions mean size of nets Additional Director Koteswar Rao saidppldquoHere small fishes below half a kilogram are also caught by the fishermen Naturally the number would come down We wonrsquot get the Pulasa in the futurerdquo Researcher Srinivasa Rao saidp