We know the palolo is a delicacy but is it really worth $600, $800 or $1,000 per container? That was perhaps the most frequently asked question among hunters and lovers of the rare sea worm at the sight of containers of palolo being sold for such amounts all over the country during the weekend.
It wasn't an uncommon scenario to be asked by a palolo seller for a container of the fish for $600.
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Most of them came from Savai’i where palolo was apparently in abundance. At the Savalalo Fish Market, Fouvale Falemoe, from
Satupa’itea, Savai’i couldn’t stop smiling. She had three containers selling for more than $600 each. On top of that, she also had bundles, each going for $50 a pop. But why so expensive? “Because the palolo is very hard to find,” she said. “It’s not easy to catch the palolo and if people really want it, well they have to go out there and get it themselves. “If not, we get it, we sell it and they take it.” In Samoa, palolo can be fished under a full moon only in October and early November. This is when the worm spawns. For Mrs. Falemoe, who is a mother of seven children, last week was her biggest pay day. She says she is a regular palolo hunter every year.
“This is the only time of the year that we can enjoy this delicacy. I know there are people who will also spend a lot of money just to be able to enjoy a bundle or container of it.
“Besides, I have also travelled from a very long way to provide the palolo to people here and I need to make enough money to get back to Savai’i.”
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