Bhubnaeswar: The state's largest fish market - the Unit-IV fish market - here is running into losses after traces of cancer-causing formalin was found in fish samples on Friday.

Traders at the Unit-IV market said on Sunday that the sale of fish has declined by about 70 per cent. The fish traders have decided to put a ban on sale of marine fish for 10 days from Monday to make up for the losses.

A fish trader at the market said that while 60 tonnes of fish were sold there on last Wednesday, the sale dipped to around 15 tonnes on Sunday. The market caters to the city residents and also hotels in and around Bhubaneswar. As many as 39 wholesalers and more than 200 traders do their business in the market.

On Friday, a 12-member team of state fisheries and animal resources development department had collected fish samples from the market for scientific testing after the Assam government banned import of fish from Odisha due to the presence of the cancer-causing preservative in the state's fish. The samples included prawn, rohu, mirkali, crabs and pomfret. High levels of formalin were found in the pomfret, a marine fish.

Advisor of Jaya Jawan Maschhya Byabasayi Sangha, an association of traders of wholesalers of Unit-IV market, Sheikh Mustafa said that they had decided to ban the sell of preserved marine fish temporarily

"As the sale dipped significantly, an emergency meeting was convened on Sunday. The association members decided not to sell preserved fish. We have also decided to initiate action on our end against traders spraying the deadly preservative on the fish. If such situation persists for another week, we will be forced to shut down the shops ," said Mustafa.

Health officials asked consumers to check out few points before buying fish.

"The formalin-laced fish looks hard as the chemical hardens the tissues. These fishes also give pungent smell and flies don't wander near the chemical-laced fish," said a fisheries official.

In another development, a team of Cuttack Municipal Corporation on Sunday conducted raids on fish markets across the city and collected samples for laboratory test. The team also collected samples of fish coming from Andhra Pradesh. The samples have been sent to the testing laboratory in Bhubaneswar.