When Chandrakant Tare, a fisherman from Murbhe in Palgar, set sail with his crew in mid-August, he didn’t know much that he would make a really rare catch.
Come September, now it’s a crorepati!
On 15 August, coinciding with the Independence Day festivities, the trawler Harba Devi, with Tare and 10 crew on board, was launched into the Arabian Sea.
About 20 to 25 nautical miles in Wadhwan along the coast of Maharashtra-Gujarat, Tare and his team caught 157 Ghol fish, known as “Sea Gold”.
Even while they were on the high seas, the news spread like wildfire to the fishing community.
On August 28, they returned to Murbhe and the merchants had lined up.
The catch was auctioned off and attracted an offer of about 1.33 million euros.
The fish Ghol or Protonibea diacanthus, commonly known as the black-spotted croaker, and in Australia as the black Jewish fish, is a species of fish native to the Indo-Pacific region.
This fish is considered one of the most expensive varieties of marine fish. Its heart is known as sea gold, which is said to have medicinal properties and is an important ingredient in making various medicines.
Fish is considered a delicacy, it is appreciated in East Asia for the medicinal properties of its internal organs.
Its fins also have medicinal value and are used by pharmaceutical companies to make soluble stitches.