Dwindling fish landings have led to a steep increase in prices of most sought-after fishes like Indian oil sardines, mackerel, pearl spot, seer fish, prawns and shrimps. Sardines, once considered as the poor man’s fish, no longer seem to be affordable. At Ernakulam market, sardines cost Rs 150 per kg. In September, the price was between Rs 90 and 100. Mackerel, the second most popular fish after sardines, costs Rs 180 per kg on Friday at Ernakulam market. Last month, they were sold at Rs 100. Fish vendors say that prices of sardines were at half the rates last year at Rs 50-70. However, for the past few months, the price range is between Rs 90 and 100. “We are not getting sufficient sardines. But the demand for this variety of fish is relatively high. So, naturally the price will go up,” said P S Hamsa, a wholesale fish dealer at Ernakulam market. He said that these days we are forced to depend on neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh for oil sardines, pearl spot and pomfret. Delay in the arrival of north-east monsoon also appears to be playing a role in the catch and availability. Shrimps cost around Rs 500 per kg, while prawns cost around Rs 300-400 per kg. Medium-size prawns cost around Rs 200-250 per kg. Despite October being the season for squids, the price has shot up to Rs 130 per kg. Pearl spot fish cost between Rs 600 and 700 per kg, while seer fish cost around Rs 400 per kg in the market. Other expensive fishes include barracuda which cost around Rs 200-300 per kg. Shark cost around Rs 300 per kg and bluefin trevally costs anything between Rs 280-300 per kg. River snapper were sold for Rs 180-200 per kg on Friday and Indian cobia white costs around Rs 200 per kg. “At present, there is shortage of sardines, squids, pomfret, shrimps and mackerel. In addition to that, there is acute shortage of river fish, including yellow catfish, Indian spiny turbot fish, orange chromide fish and mystus,” said V D Majeendran, vice-president of Independent Fish Workers Federation, Kochi. He said owing to poor catch of sardines, mackerels were in demand for some time. “But these days we are not getting enough mackerels. We are also not getting black and white pomfret fish these days,” said Majeendran. Meanwhile, Habeeb Shaji, a boat owner based in Vypeen, said that wrong fishing methods like fishing using LED and other light attractants are affecting catches near coastal waters. Light fishing is used to scoop and catch edible juvenile fishes. This practice will deplete marine wealth. The juvenile edible fish species lost in this manner include sardines, mackerel mullets and ribbon fish, he said. The fishing community has come out with a demand to announce a fish famine in Kerala and also give subsidies to the community. “The state government should seriously take up this issue as the catches have been low this year too,” said Charles George, state president, Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikyavedi. While there had been a major catch of oil sardines in 2012, also a bumper harvest in 2012 at 3.99 lakh tonnes, it has come down to 68,431 tonnes in 2015 indicating the steep fall in marine catches.