EP 6 Mangalore Bunder | Mangalore's Largest sea food market | Deep Sea fishing
Namaskar friends! Welcome to Visa2explore! This is your host, Harish Bali. Right now I am at Mangalore Bunder. Let me introduce you to persons standing next to me. I have with me Srinivas Ji, Sudhir Ji and Abhay. They will show us around the Mangalore Bunder. The time right now is 6.30 am.
This place sees a lot of activity between 5.30 and 8.30 am daily Boats that come back from the sea, need to unload their catch. Standing in this place, it is obvious that a lot of action is taking place around us. Yes, yes, definitely! So, we will go and have a look.
Please come. We are entering the fish unloading point. You can see the ice here, which is brought from the ice factory. This is used to pack the fish. There are around 30-40 ice factories around this area. Alright.
Tell me one thing, does this ice have salt mixed in it? Ice made of saltwater retains its temperature much better than ice made with regular water. This means it remains in the cold state for a longer time. Okay, nice! So, we will go further? Yes, we will.
This variety of fish is not preferred by the locals. Okay. So, this fish goes into factory, where it is packaged and exported. Okay! So, all these people who are standing here, like this gentleman, are buyers? Yes, buyers So, you buy wholesale fish? Yes, we buy fish at wholesale rates. Tell me one thing Sir, do you wait for the boats to come back before buying.... ...or do you do advance buying? We wait for the boats and then auction the rates.
You mean the boat, after reaching the harbour, is auctioned? Yeah! The rates are decided depending upon the variety of fish. So, this auction happens when? In the morning? Yes, around 4 or 4.30 am! Ohh! That means you guys reach here... By 7.30 am, everything is finished. ...by 4 o'clock? 3 o'clock! 3 in the morning? Yeah! I had no idea that the action begins here at 3 in the morning. We need to take our places here at 3 am and then wait for the boats.
That is interesting! Thank you! What is that black-colored fish? This is cuttlefish. This is a variety of Octopus Can we see it closely? Yes! First I thought it is a squid. Must be from the same family. This is cuttlefish. Cuttlefish.
In a way, you told me, it is like octopus. Like octopus. How is the ink removed? By washing? Yes, by washing. Is it easy to remove the ink? Yes, it can be removed easily. How is there so much ink in this fish? This fish produces ink on its own. Production of ink is part of this fish's defence mechanism.
It produces ink whenever it fears danger like a bigger fish who might eat it up. It ejects the ink and escapes using the diversion. Ohh, that is interesting! This is octopus and it is quite popular in countries like Japan. You are the boat owner? Yes! This is a boat from which the fish is being unloaded? Yes! So, after how many days has this fish returned? I've got two boats. One returned in 10 days while the other came back in 11 days. Ten days is a lot of time! Yes, that is a lot of time! To go deep-sea fishing for 10 days at a stretch! Yes, deep-sea fishing.
How far do you go for fishing into the sea? in miles or kms? No miles or km! They go upto Bombay in this direction and.... ...in that direction, they go upto Cochin. That far? Yes, that far! Alright. The boat goes wherever the fish are. And what is the maximum storage capacity of your boat? Maximum capacity is around 50 tons.
50 tons!!! Oh God! What is your crew size? For instance, the boat goes away for 10 days and they need to come back with a full load... ...what would be the crew size for that trip? How many members in all? 11 or 10 members. Are 10 persons able to handle the scale of this operation? Yes, they can. We don't get 50 tonnes in one go. We get smaller batches of fish. Alright. This is something very new for us.
According to a rough estimate, how many boats would be there on this Bunder? Maybe more than a thousand. And perseen? May be 100-130. Awesome! Thanks! Fish is a very big industry. Huge industry! These diesel pumps are installed by the government to provide subsidised diesel to fishermen.
Alright! This place is called "Dakke". "Dakke" means Bunder. Yes, Bunder! There we saw wholesale buying and selling happening. On this side, we see auction taking place. So, the fish-sellers in the vicinity come and buy fish through auction method? Yes Oh wow! So we can go and have a look at the auction process. This is Pomfret, white-colored.
He is saying Rs. 750 per kg price for this and what is for this? Rs. 700! Rs. 700 per kg for this. Why this difference in rate? Difference is there because that fish is better quality and bigger in size. Since this fish is smaller in size, the rates are bit less. Nevertheless, this is one of the costliest fish in the market.
Rs. 460 per kg! The bigger fish is for Rs. 550 per kg and this smaller one is for Rs. 450 per kg. Both are the same variety? Yes, same. Then why is the rate different? Bigger size fish fetches better price.
Alright! There is too much action happening here! I cannot understand a thing! Lot of noise! There is auction happening everywhere! Yes, correct! Let us check out that auction! This is shellfish. Rs 300 per kg! Over there you can see a board announcing the government ban on fishing for saw fish and whale shark. These are rare species, so fishing for these is banned. Sudhir ji, tell me one thing.... ...Can I go into a boat and check it from inside? Yes, yes, we can! We have the boat owner with us.
How many boats do you own? I've two boats. Two? Yes! Can we see the boats from inside? Yes, let us go. (speaking local dialect) He is telling me there are 22 partitions to store the ice. And the capacity of the fish cache is about 45 tons. 45 tons!!!! That is huge! Huge! Yes! What is your crew size? How many members will be on this boat? 11 people will come back after 10 days? Yes! I am trying to imagine 10 days in deep sea! Sir, he is telling me that they also have 2 water storage tanks of 2500 litres capacity each.
5000 litres? Yes, total 5000 litres. That is for general purpose - cleaning up, washing clothes, etc. For drinking water, they need to carry several 20 litre cans of Bisleri water. This is from where we will go in? Hmm! Where do I go from here? This side? From here? From this side. Okay! Where is the water tank? This one is water tank. Alright! And where do you store diesel? On this side, in this tank. Oh this large tank stores diesel.
Yes! So you've two tanks for diesel as well? Yes, the other one is on that side. Just imagine, 5000 litre of diesel in each of these tanks. They carry 10,000 litre of diesel while setting out on their journey. Huge, ? Very huge! Tell me one thing - when the boat runs at a normal speed, how much diesel is consumed every hour? 50 litre per hour.
5, 0? Yes! Okay! So that is why you need to store a lot of diesel with you. Also, do you carry out fishing only during the day or in night as well? Both day and night. Alright, depending upon in which area you get the fish. Okay! So, thank you very much! It was nice meeting you! Okay brother! Thank you! Bye Bye! An interesting thing happened just now. We were talking to a boatman about our desire to watch fishing live.
The boatman agreed to take us with him and asked us to come back in the afternoon. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would get a chance.... ...to go deep sea-fishing in my life. Isn't it wonderful? Huh! The time is 9.30 am and we are leaving here now. What time shall we come back here? By 2 pm.
2 pm, okay. So, we will leave now and join you again in the second half. The time is 2 pm. We are back at Bunder. We have with me Mr. Dayakar, to whom the boat belongs. So, if we leave right now, by what time shall we be back from fishing? 7-8! 7 pm and 8 pm! Great! It was just 5 minutes ago that I came to know that this gentleman is also the national champion in power-lifting.
Very good! You look like a power lifter too! Shall we leave? Let's go! You've been fishing since 1978. Yes! I was born in 1974! How many crew members are there on this boat? 35! That is a large crew! Yes! Please show me the place where you stored the ice and all. Since the sun is shining right above our heads, they gave me this hat to cover my face and head. Wearing this is comforting. So, are we ready? Yes, we are! We are now at the backwaters. This is Gurupoora river, that is Nethravathi river.
This is the confluence and we are entering into the Arabian Sea. Wow! What a moment! That channel in the distance is also looking beautiful! Super! What an experience! You can see the Coast Guard boat approaching. They are the people who guide the national waters. So, how do you recognize the Coast Guard? Their boat has a distinctive colour, which helps us identify them. By the colour of the boat? Yeah! What a moment! Seriously! What is the speed of the boat right now? It is 17 nautical miles per hour. If you want to explain in km, multiply it by 1.85.
I really can't explain the experience that I am enjoying here today.. The heat was unbearable while we were standing at the Bunder.... ... but not anymore since we are travelling here. It is feeling good right now! Yes, it is. The sunlight is sparkling like stars on the water surface. We left Bunder about 45 minutes back.
And I am enjoying a lot. They've cooked fish curry with rice for us. A while ago, I saw the crew members having their lunch. So, let us begin. This curry is made with Bangda fish.
This curry is simple in taste, the gravy contains onion, tomato, etc. And of course, this is Bangda fish. Eating the curry mixed with rice is feeling really delicious. Look at how fast they spread this net, which must be at least 50 m in radius. Right now, the net has been spread all around this boat. Such a fast and smooth action of spreading the fish net.
The engine is idle right now. Right behind us is another large boat, waiting to catch some fish as well. Right now, we are at least 11 nautical miles away from the Bunder. To calculate how many km, you need to multiply 11 with 1.85. The boat engine was shut down 1.5 hours ago.
This fish net was spread some time back and now they are pulling it back. They've caught the small fish, known as Aarabi locally. This fish is similar to the Buthayi variety.
Or Sardines! This fish is thinner in size. This fish is Aarabi and they've told me that all of this will go to the factory. You can see, this net was pulled up with the help of a pulley... ...and at least 5-6 men are pulling up this catch onto the deck. Ohhoo! So, according to you, this must be at least a ton of fish? Yes, it could also be more than one ton. Watching deep sea fishing today will remain a lifetime experience for me.
Look at this huge quantity of fish in front of me. When I asked them about the total quantity of fish on this boat, they said... ...the scale is at Bunder. But approximately, it must be at least 3 tons. All of this is Aarabi fish, though, very less quantity is of some other variety as well.
So, they don't consume this fish? Or they eat very minimal quantity of this fish. It is mainly sold to factories to prepare the feed for dogs and chicken. So, brother, what would be the rate of this fish, per kg? Rs. 25-30 per kilo! So, according to you, would it be an average catch or less than average? Less, very less! He is saying very less! You mean, not a good catch at all! Ohh, alright! So, now we are approximately 18 km from the Bunder.
So, how much time will it take us to reach the Bunder? It will take at least 1-1.5 hours to reach back. So the time is 7 pm. We will reach there at 8.30 pm and join you again. We reached the Mangalore Bunder at 8.15 pm. Today's experience wouldn't have been possible without your support! So, Srinivas Ji, Abhay, Sudhir Ji, and you Sir,..
...the way we met by chance today... ....and we went on this journey, will remain a lifelong experience for me. He just told me one interesting thing. When we turned back after the fish catch was collected and stored... ...he informed his men at Bunder about the approximate quantity of fish. There was a buyer ready to buy the fish even before the boat reached Bunder! This is a very interesting thing to happen. There was a buyer ready to buy the catch even before the boat came back. That is how much organized this whole system is. Thank you so much! Once again, thanks to all of you! Though it is difficult to say when I would meet all of you again.
Bye to all of you too! Will see you again in the next episode! Thank you!
2021-01-31 20:45
