Paradip, Aug. 16: Fish exporters and producers are engaged in a tug of war here over the price of fish.

While the exporters have stopped procuring fishes from the harbour, the fishermen are auctioning their daily catch directly to the public.

“It is a case of conflicting business interests between the fish exporters and the local marine fishermen. The Odisha government has intervened to settle it amicably,” said Rabi Narayan Pattnaik, assistant director of the Odisha marine fisheries department.

The dispute started after the Marine Product Export Development Authority had recently fixed the fish price. After this, the exporters refused to buy fishes from the Paradip fishing harbour. The authority is empowered to fix the catch price for export goods on a weekly basis.

The trouble started when 13 exporters cited global economic downturn and sought for a cut in the prices fixed by the authority.

However, the Odisha Marine Fish Producers’ Association opposed the exporters’ demand.

President of the association Sumant Biswal told The Telegraph: “Paradip is Odisha’s major marine fish-producing centre. Over one lakh people from these parts of the state are dependent on marine fishing and other related activities. The export trading is being carried out here in accordance with the authority’s guidelines. However, the other marine fish-producing centres at Dhamra, Astarang and Balaramgadi do not follow the guidelines. The exporters are arbitrarily imposing the price cut.”