Multi-day fishing boat owners around the country are struggling to sell their catch amid the tough measures implemented by the Government to control the spread of coronavirus. The fishermen alleged that there was no government mechanism to enable them to sell their catch or for the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation (CFC) to purchase. Speaking to The Morning, Trade Union of Owners of Multi-day Trawlers (MDT) Secretary Ruwan Fernando stressed that there are around 3,000 multi-day fishing boat owners and all of them are in dire straits as they had to incur huge losses in their previous catch due to the current situation of the country where they couldn’t sell the fish at a proper rate. However, the MDT urged the Government to provide a fuel subsidy for all these fishermen until the situation returns back to normality. “The cost per a kilogramme is about Rs. 500 and when they have to sell it at Rs. 250, the fishermen cannot run the industry. That’s why they need a fuel subsidy,” he explained. According to Fernando, there are around 6,000 multi-day fishing boats in the country. Fernando noted that if the Government could sell a litre of diesel at Rs. 75 since the fuel prices have gone down in the world market, the fishermen would be able to continue fishing,” he stressed. MDT Assistant Secretary Tyronne Mendis noted that the fishermen in the area are now getting ready to go fishing after halting it for the New Year and Easter but are in doubt whether it would be worth catching at this time. “Before the New Year, we sold a kilogramme of kelawalla fish for Rs. 270, which is way below the market price that was earlier at Rs. 800-900,” he stressed. He noted that they have requested the CFC to purchase the catch to which they have not yet responded. However, when The Morning contacted CFC Managing Director Krishantha Rathnaweera, he pointed out that the corporation would only purchase quality fish and it had already purchased fish worth Rs. 100 million. “So far we were given Rs. 100 million and that is for purchasing fish from fishermen and providing them at a reasonable price for consumers. In addition, the CFC will also increase cooling capacity so as to store large quantities,” he explained. Rathnaweera alleged that some fishermen were trying to sell their low-quality catch to the CFC, which he said the corporation would not allow. “CFC cannot incur losses and sell rotten fish to consumers. It should look after both the consumers and fishermen,” he added. He further noted that CFC would continue to purchase catch from fishermen in the future. – Maheesha Mudugamuwa