Karnataka fish body opens one-stop shop for fish delights

‘Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a life time.’ Inspired by this universally accepted saying, the Karnataka State Fish Cooperative Federation (KSFCF) has proposed about 100 restaurants in the state, keeping in mind the educated unemployed youth belonging to the inland fisherman’s community.

The first of its kind, KSFCF inaugurated their maiden store called ‘Matsya Darshini’ at Mysore. Designed on the concept of the ubiquitous ‘Darshinis’ in Bangalore, KSFCF appears to be hopeful of serving millions of fish-food lovers in Bangalore, Mandya, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Davanagere and other land locked districts.

“We have a total of 66,000 members and most of them were in the business of inland fish production. They produce large quantities of big sweet water fish varieties like Catla and Rohu, and some of them even produce sweet water prawns on the lines of prawns cultivation ponds in the coastal areas,” S Madae Gowda, president of the federation told DNA.

But most of them end up selling the raw fish to the consumers at throwaway prices, earning almost pittance in return. Though the Karnataka Fisheries Development Corporation have fish canteens in Cubbon Park and Indiranagar in Bangalore, they patronise only coastal varieties of fish like Mackerels, Sardines, Sear and Pomfret. On the other hand, Mysore and other districts do not even have such canteens.

“We do not mind being sidelined by the coastal fish lobby, we have found our space in the urban fish gourmets. Thanks to the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) under the ministry of Agriculture, we will get 90% funding for value addition of the inland fish production. I see a bright business model for our inland fishermen in the near future as we are planning to set up 100 fish canteens and stores across Karnataka. We also plan to have them in the interiors of coastal areas that are not serviced by the coastal fish market network,” Gowda said.

“I’m sure even coastal fish eaters will like the large fish fillets of Rohu and Catla and few other varieties that will be on our platter soon. We are identifying few other meaty types of sweet water varieties with technical help from hatcheries and other professional bodies,” Gowda added.

A creatively designed fish shaped kiosk has been set up at Kukkarahalli tank premises and soon, such kiosks will start appearing elsewhere in the state as well. Under the NFDB programme, a certain portion of the central fund has also been earmarked for bringing more areas under inland fisheries like reservoirs, ponds, lakes, backwaters even set up fish ponds.

So, the next time you have a sudden craving for a homogeneous fish fillet with a bowl of steamed rice topped with hot fish curry, just walk into the all new ‘Matsya Darshini’.