KOCHI: By 2.30 pm on Monday, the mood at the harbour at Kallamukh was one of collective anticipation. Everybody were casting their eyes to towards the waters. The trawlers that left the harbour at midnight were yet to return with the catch. In the last one and a half months business at the harbour had dropped to an all-time low owing to the trawler ban. “The only fishes available were those caught from small traditional boats. But this time around even the catch was only one fourth of the usual count.”, says Latheef who goes about his business at the harbour here.So the anticipation today held a pinch of anxiety too, regarding whether trawlers would have the same fate of the little boats. But soon in the horizon a trawler was spotted. It was Ave Maria, a boat belonging to Thoppumpady. The fishermen, manual workers, the auctioneers and the public, rushed to the boat heading to berth. In no time the auctioneer climbed on to the boat and the buyers and their assistants gathered around the catch. The heap of red fish, threadfinn bream, gleamed in the midday sun. One among the boat crew members was shovelling the heap of fish. “This is to help buyers inspect the fish. Based on this they will call the prices.”Some of the people had already started guessing the price. Soon the auction began and within no time the price was fixed. P T Chakkappan was the winner at the auction, the winner of the first auction of the new season at the harbour. Chakkappan has been in the business for more than 30 years now. “When we look at the fish we know how many kilos it will be. This will come to around 1,200 kg in total. We will be sending them across the state. We have to be quick. If the others arrive soon then the prices will go down.” he says. True to his words the harbour became a beehive of activity. The fish was soon removed from the boat, weighed, collected into boxes of 30-kg each, iced and taken to lorries and other vehicles. In a little more than half an hour the harbour was swept of all the fish, with people awaiting the next boat. But soon another boat arrived and then another, in quick succession, each with a bigger heap of fish and the crowds were again back with their guessing games. “In the first few days it will be threadfinn bream and some ‘Kannava’. In the coming days, the boats which go further into the sea will get different fishes”. But the boat owners with the catch are a happy lot. “We are lucky this time to get the fish right at the beginning. The earlier you are the more profit you make. Sometimes you will not find the fish. So you will have to move further on,” says Sussain Nayagan, the owner of ‘Pepin’, the second ship to reach the harbour. “But there is no time to rest, we will be off again by 10 pm todayfor the next catch”, says the enthusiastic boat owner.
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