FISH TRADERS of Andhra Pradesh have a good market in far away Assam. Even after paying transportation charges of upto Rs 8 per kg of fish taken to Assam, the traders get to put away a tidy sum for themselves. The irony is that Assam itself abounds in wetlands, but has failed to exploit them. Embankments on rivers have reduced fish production in thousands of bils (wetlands).

Such is the dependence on fish supplies from outside the state that the consumer in Guwahati paid Rs 80 for a kg of fish recently when transporters went on strike. Normally, 60,000 kg of fish comes daily into Assam and about three-fourths of this is for Guwahati alone.