Following the trawling ban in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, prices of fish have touched the sky in Salem markets. Though there is a sharp decline in the supply of fish, demand is high, merchants here said. “We usually get about four tonnes of fish a day. This week however, only 800 kilograms of fish reached here,” said K Asokan, a fish merchant at the Salem VOC Fish Market in the city. However, there is no shortage of freshwater fish, he told TOI. The fish market usually gets sea fish such as vanjaram (seer fish), sankara (red snapper), uli (barracuda), parai (bluefin trevally) and viral (butter fish) from Chennai and other Southern districts including Nagapattinam, Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin and Kanyakumari. Varieties such as aiylai (mackerel), mathi (sardine) and kari meen (pearl spot) are brought from Kerala. According to fish merchants, one kilo of vanjaram is now sold for 1,200 (sold for 450 last week) and one kilo of prawns is available for 500 ( 280). Sankara is sold for 320 ( 150), aiylai 220 ( 100), mathi 130 ( 50), nei meen 580 ( 280) and kari meen 300 ( 175). The rates will remain the same for at least a month, said M Gunasekaran, another fish merchant. “There is good demand for sea fish from across Salem. Of the four tonnes we require every day, nearly three tonnes are brought from Chennai and southern districts and the rest from Kerala,” he said. The merchants, however, have not increased the price of freshwater fish. “We get rohu and catla from the Mettur Dam and Hogenakkal. As water level in those areas has gone down, fishermen there can easily catch fish. We sell rohu for 150 and catla for 170 per kilo. The prices have not changed since last week,” a merchant added.