Tariq Iqbal, who runs a software house at Jeff Heights, Main Boulevard, pulls his car on a side of the road, in the Mughalpura Railways Carriage Workshop area.

He hops out, walks a distance and reaches close to the donkey cart parked in the service lane. The cart is laden with different varieties of fish, all decorated beautifully. The vendor seems to be in a rush as the owners of the permanent fish shops around want him to move and not take away their customers. He obviously has an edge as he does not have to pay the rents, wages to workers and bear other heads.

The price of the fish varies according to quality, kind and size. Haggling over price is quite common and may suit the buyers when there are less people around. On off-days and during the times when mercury has a steep fall, these little outlets become crowded and the shopkeepers totally unaccommodating.

Iqbal loves to eat fish all year round. He visits different spots in the city to buy fish of his own choice. In case of shortage of a specific variety in the market, he does not mind trying multiple points.

Buying quality fish at a reasonable price is an art and Iqbal claims to be quite good at it. Dressed casually, he leaves his mobile and other valuables in his car which he always parks at a distance from the sale point. He is convinced the price of fish is quoted according to the apparent financial status of the prospective buyer.

"As public knowledge about fish varieties and quality is limited, one can be duped into paying any price the sellers demand," Iqbal tells TNS.

The Mughalpura Railways Carriage Workshop has emerged as a popular and comparatively affordable market over the years. Overcharging is not quite common as this spot primarily caters for the low- to middle-income group of thousands of employees of the Pakistan Railways.

Earlier, there used to be moveable stalls managed by vendors but today a proper market has been set up by the Railways authorities and leased out to successful bidders.

Though there are several other fish markets such as those in Delhi Gate, Mori Gate, Tollinton Market, Yateem Khana Chowk, Jallo Mor, Ichhra, and Township, this spot has seen its clientele increase by the day. And one major reason for that is that while the other parts of the city have become choked due to different road construction and development works, it is still accessible to commuters. Parking is also not an issue.

Abdul Ghafoor, who deals in sweet water and sea fish varieties in the Mughalpura market, speaks of rahu, thaila, mori, grass carp, silver carp, bighead, malli and tilapia fish as the more popular varieties. The Pangasius (boneless) is imported from Vietnam, and Bam (a sea fish variety) also have a ready market in the form of fried fish, he adds.

The prices of good quality rahu, thaila, malli etc range from Rs200-320 per kg in the market; the difference is mainly due to their weight. The heavier and bigger in size the fish is, the higher is the price.

Poor man’s variety is also available. For example, tilapia (chiraa machli) can be bought for Rs75 per kg to Rs150 per kg, fish head for Rs50-100 per kg and strips of fish meat (wastage after cutting out fillets) for Rs120-150 per kg.

A recent trend observed by the visitors of the fish selling spots is that some new varieties have made their way into the market. The sizes have also increased while the prices have not spiraled much for the common varieties. However, the less common sole fish, salmon, singara etc are for the niche market and can fetch prices ranging between Rs700-1200 per kg.

"The khagga fish which is a product of rivers has become extinct in River Ravi and the only one coming to markets is available in River Indus," says Sheikh Shahid who treats his chest congestion with curry/broth made by cooking this fish.

The khaggas are sold at around Rs500 per kg in the wholesale market. Shahid says there was a time when river fish was preferred over farm fish but now the situation is different. The industrial and chemical effluents have made river waters toxic. "Either the fish in river die or they become toxic."

Ilyas Gujjar, Secretary General, Lahore Wholesale Fish Market, Mori Gate says that the prices of fish are under control due to increased production, no floods this year and the innovative farming practices by fish farmers. He says most of the fish that reaches Lahore is produced at ponds at fish farms and the major areas from where it comes are Multan, Muzaffargarh, Alipur Chatta, Mandi Bahauddin, Jhang and so on. River fish forms hardly one to two percent of the supply. Even in the dams, the fish is produced by releasing pong for commercial production, he adds.

Gujjar says the lands that are water logged in the areas sited above are not fit for agriculture, so they have been put to use by fish farmers. The agricultural land near Lahore is fertile and expensive, hence put to agricultural use. He says that everyday around 12,000 to 14,000 mounds of fish reach this wholesale market and from here it is sent to all other markets such as Tollington Market, Mughalpura market, Delhi Gate etc.

He says genuine lovers of fish try to eat it fresh and can be seen in retail markets early in the morning. Pointing at a large sized rahu variety he says, they perform gutting process to remove gill, intestines and gall bladder to increase the storage life of the fish.

Gujjar explains that the new varieties are mostly those produced through cross-breeding to increase meat to bone ratio. Many farmers have imported eggs of foreign varieties to produces these fish varieties in local farms and supply them fresh to the vary customers. The reason, he says, the fish imported in chillers is not fresh and has a high ice and water content. Once the fish is heated this water content is released and the net weight of the fish bought by the customers comes down, he adds.

Gujjar urges the government to provide a proper space to the wholesale fish market saying right now they are based in a highly congested residential locality. The space is limited so the whole sellers can be seen with stockpiles of fish on the road where sewerage water is running. He says, "I request Punjab Food Authority officials, especially their director Ayesha Mumtaz, to visit the market to see how unhygenic are the conditions in which fish is kept and processed."

He praises the entrepreneurship of local farmers and says that, if provided support by the government, they can make wonders and increase the production of fish. When there is more supply, the prices will come down making this source of protein affordable for people. Besides, he says, the excess amount can be exported.

Lastly, he dispels the impression that farm fish is not good. "The farmers provide quality feed to the fish raised in sweet water," he says. "The floor and the walls of the ponds are not metalled. Natural herbs and grass grow under water and these fish feed on them as well."