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Sardine curry? No, there's something fishy

The most affordable nutrition for the needy until recently, the fish now costs a bomb.

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“There are more fruits in the shampoo of a rich man than there are on the plate of the common man” goes a tweet. Maybe it’s indeed true that there are more sardines in the rich man’s daily nutrient pill than in the common man’s curry.

Yes, the inevitable has happened: Prices of common Indian oil sardines are now beyond the reach of the common man. Thanks to new German technology, which isolates Omega-3 fatty acids from sardines, fish meal companies on the coast are cornering every load of Sardines they can lay their hands on, to extract Omega 3.

When dna broke the story in January, sceptics in fishery industry thought it was not likely as the catch was too large and the intake of sardines into the value addition by extracting Omega 3 was insignificant.  But sardines are now commanding thrice the price since January. In unorganised markets in Mangalore, Udupi and Karwar, a portion of eight sardines costs Rs50 against Rs20 in February, while in organised markets they were priced at Rs120-130 presently, against about Rs60 at the beginning of the year.

Aam aadmi’s food
Sardine is the cheapest nutrition common people can afford. Hot sardine curry and lump of rice are the staple food of millions of common people on the coast.

“We opposed the use of Sardines to produce feed for the shrimp farms, as it was conversion of cheap nutrition of the common man into rich man’s food in shrimp. The same analogy works in conversion of sardine into Omega-3 fatty acids,” Vasudeva Boloor, activist of the National Fishworkers’ Federation (NFF), told dna.

According to statistics of the state fisheries department, Indian oil sardines are the most popular fish variety among the lower income group. In 2011-12, 10,000 tons of sardines were consumed in just Dakshina Kannada district alone. Although a low-value fish, due to great volumes, of catch the prices were lower and sardine had become staple of the poor.

Managing director of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi fish marketing federation Suresh Kumar told dna: “We are expecting the sardine catch to go up from November, which is in fact the season for purse-seine boats to engage in sardine fishing. But the prices we are witnessing is something unprecedented.”

According to the sources in Marine Products Export Development Authority, the country is exporting 20,000 tonnes of Indian oil sardines from the shores of Karnataka alone, to European Union, of which a major chunk went to Germany.

“We have no complaints against extraction of Omega3 from sardines if it has health benefits. But the fishing market regulators should hold the price line to enable the common people to having their share of cheap nutrition,” said Yathish Baikampady, a fisherfolk leader.

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