How Andhra fishermen’s desperate chase for catch lands them in foreign jails

The recent arrest of eight fishermen from Andhra Pradesh by the Bangladeshi marine police for straying into the maritime waters of that country has once again brought to the fore the perils Indian fishermen go through to find a decent catch in the absence of sufficient fish along the Indian coast.

Desperate quest

Fishermen often travel hundreds of kilometres in boats to catch fish in the Bay of Bengal and continue their search until they find a decent catch. In their search, they often miss warning signs and inadvertently cross the country’s maritime waters and enter those of the neighbouring countries.

As a result, they immediately get arrested by the coast guard and marine police of the neighbouring countries, who patrol those waters daily. Once caught, they are considered illegal intruders according to the laws of those countries and are imprisoned. Several fishermen, arrested in this way, have been languishing in foreign jails for years.

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The recent years have seen a rising trend where fishermen often cross the country’s maritime borders, get arrested by agencies in the neighbouring country, and serve years in jails before the Indian government intervenes and negotiates with the neighbour for their release. The same is the case for fishermen from other countries who enter India’s maritime waters.

Latest arrests

The arrest of eight fishermen from Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam by the Bangladesh Coast Guard is the latest of such cases. On October 13, the fishermen went fishing in a mechanised boat (numbered IND-AP-V5-MM-735) owned by one Vaddadi Satyanarayana. They had anchored the boat near Digha in West Bengal while fishing in the waters of West Bengal on Wednesday (October 15) morning.

However, due to strong winds and the impact of high waves, their boat drifted into Bangladesh's maritime waters. The boat’s owner, Vaddadi Satyanarayana, said that the boat was seized and its occupants were arrested by the Bangladesh marine police and lodged in a Bangladeshi jail.

Along with them, another 104 fishermen from five boats from West Bengal were also caught by the Bangladeshi marine police.

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Among those who left in the boat from Visakhapatnam were Marupilli Chinna Appanna, Marupilli Ramesh, Surada Appalakonda, Marupilli Praveen, Surapathi Ramu, Marupilli Chinna Appanna, Nakka Ramana from Tippalavalsa village in Pusapati Rega mandal, and Vasupalli Seethayya.

The families of these fishermen are a distressed lot and have urged the government to aid in their immediate release.

Fishermen chase fish, miss borders

Fishermen generally tend to stray into the waters of neighbouring countries as they disregard maritime boundaries and give more importance to the quality of fish. While this leads to their eventual arrest, they also get caught while moving forward without properly identifying the maritime boundaries. Fishing is intensively carried out in areas where fish are abundantly available in the waters bordering Pakistan and Bangladesh. During this time, they inadvertently intrude into those countries' maritime waters and end up in their jails.

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Fish crisis along Andhra coast

Scanty catch along the Andhra coast is what goads fishermen the most to go looking for fish along the coast of other states.

“For several years, the availability of fish along the Andhra Pradesh coast has been disappointing, leading fishermen from north Andhra to migrate to Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, and Kerala. The waters of West Bengal are deep, and fish are plentiful from October to February. In the Janakiram area, fish such as tuna, sharks, and mackerel, which fetch high prices, are available. Consequently, they travel nearly 1,500 km from the Visakhapatnam area to that region,” Vasu Palli Janaki Ram, president of the East Coast Mechanised Boat Owners Association, told The Federal Andhra Pradesh.

Vasu says each boat catches an average of 10 tons of fish, raking in around Rs 10 lakh, when Andhra’s fishermen fish in that area.

“They survive the entire year on the income earned between October and February. Therefore, even though fishing in deep seas is known to be dangerous, they go fishing that provide income. Sometimes, they inadvertently cross the border and get caught by the Bangladeshi marine police,” he added.

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Past arrests

In the recent past, there have been similar incidents where fishermen from North Andhra were caught by the Bangladesh marine police. In 2019, 63 Indian fishermen accidentally crossed into Bangladeshi waters and were caught by the Bangladeshi marine police. Among them, eight were from Tippalavalsa in the Vizianagaram district. After spending five months in jail, they were released by the local court's orders.

“At that time, I made three trips to Bangladesh and stayed there for three months to secure the release of the fishermen caught. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar's initiative and the cooperation of the state government facilitated the release of the fishermen. Now, the central and state governments should take action to secure the immediate release of those caught by the Bangladesh marine police,” said Vasu.

In Pakistan jails

Not just in Bangladesh, Andhra fishermen, who move to the western coast of India in search of catch, frequently get arrested in Pakistan as well.

In 2020, fishermen from north Andhra, who were released from a Pakistani jail, were caught again in that country.

On November 22, 2018, 23 fishermen from the districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, and East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh were caught by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency. They had set out for fishing from the Veraval area in Gujarat. They were arrested by the security agency of that country after accidentally entering Pakistani waters and were subsequently sent to a jail in Karachi.

With the efforts of the central and state governments, 22 of them were released on January 6, 2020, two years later. On May 18, 2023, another three fishermen from Andhra Pradesh languishing in Pakistani jails were released. Each of them received financial assistance of ₹5 lakh from the then YSR Congress government.

(This story was originally published in The Federal Andhra Pradesh)