New Delhi, April 27: After nearly 25 years of fishing off the coast of Jamnagar in Gujarat, Hassan Bhai hit the jackpot this week through an exceptionally large catch of ghol, a prized edible fish highly valued by seafood exporters.
Hassan sailed back to port with a haul of 366 ghol fish, weighing 6,500kg, which was auctioned to waiting suppliers and exporters for about Rs 80 lakh, the males drawing a higher price than females, his sales commission agent Salim Bhai said.
“This is what you can call luck by chance,” Salim said today. “We haven’t had such a big catch of ghol fish for years. It is rare that someone gets so lucky, but this time it’s Hassan Bhai’s turn,” Salim told The Telegraph.
Fisheries scientists have long studied the ghol, also called the black-spotted croaker, an important commercial fish found off India’s western coast and in the seas off South East Asia and Australia. “The ghol fish is exported to east Asia, Europe, and the US where it is used as a key ingredient of fish maw soup,” said an exporter in Porbander, who requested not to be named.
Scientists at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) branch in Mumbai have documented what they say is an unusual, albeit rare, phenomenon of “recurrent heavy catches” of ghol off the western coast of India.
A report from the CMFRI notes three large hauls of ghol between October 1992 and October 2006 by fisherfolk operating between Mumbai and Bassein Koliwada between 350 to 569 ghol fish, weighing 5,500kg to 8,800kg. Among the largest known catch took place in October 1986 when a fishing boat landed in the fishing village of Satpati, about 80km north of Mumbai, carrying 3,218 or more than 39,000 kg of ghol fish.
Research by Indian marine scientists suggest that the ghol fish, which is a predatory species feeding on crustaceans and smaller fish, migrate in response to availability of food species — and the large recurring catches indicate that they move in large shoals and close to the shore for feeding.
Hassan who’s been fishing in the waters off Gujarat for a quarter of a century has never had such a large catch of ghol fish, his sales agent Salim said. The money made from the sale has been shared by the seven fishermen who were on the boat, Riabin Bhai, the agent who organised the auction told The Telegraph.
The ghol fish can grow up to lengths of 85cm is found in depths of up to 60m. While Indian fishermen appear to be occasionally striking it lucky with giant sized shoals of ghol fish, fishery biology experts have been worried about its population decline off the northeastern coast of Australia.
