The fishermen who go for deep-sea fishing are the most valiant among the marine fishing communities inhabiting the coasts of Kanyakumari and Thiruvananthapuram. Their predecessors used to set sail in all seasons on the Arabian Sea even before the arrival of GPS and wireless communication.
Fisherfolk from the coasts of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala live their lives partly on land and partly on sea. Their journeys are not always safe. Sudden, violent storms and massive waves can rapidly wreck even large vessels, and the absence of communication with the mainland significantly reduces their chances of survival.
The fishermen use GPS and wireless communication to navigate, and sonar devices to locate specific fish in the high seas. These wireless network operates only within a 15-km radius, and are not of much help during storms and cyclones, and deaths and disappearances are common. Hundreds of fishermen disappeared during Cyclone Ockhi, which caused widespread devastation in southern India and Sri Lanka in 2017. More than 240 men—the figure varies due to the absence of official data—remain untraced.
A typical boat crew consists of 7 to 15 members. The captain, or srank, usually owns the boat, but ownership can also be on a cooperative basis. In any case, the srank’s word is final for the duration of the journey. Boats set out on fishing expeditions through the year, except during the monsoon.
They travel far, sometimes reaching the borders of Iran, Pakistan, Qatar, the UAE, and other neighbouring countries. As the boats pursue shoals of migrating fish, sometimes they inadvertently drift across international maritime borders. If this happens at night time, the crew sometimes faces seizure and detention. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), between 2020 and 2022, over 2,600 Indian fishermen were imprisoned in 10 countries in the Indian Ocean region for crossing maritime borders. The MEA told the Rajya Sabha in March 2022 that 577 Indian fishermen were lodged in Pakistan’s jails. Of them, 9 died in the period between 2017 and 2022.
On September 28, 2024, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, urged External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to engage with Sri Lankan authorities for the release of 37 fishermen from Tamil Nadu who were arrested on September 21 for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line.
The fish—from swordfish and marlin to sting rays and sharks—give the boats a permanent smell of the sea. Once the boats reach shore after an expedition, the fish is sold through intermediaries, locally known as tharakans, who receive a share of the proceeds from the sale. In some harbours such as Kochi, the sale cannot take place without the tharakans, who have established a monopoly over the trade over the years.
A crew member mends the nets torn by a passing ship. Incidents of ships colliding with boats, firings from foreign naval forces throwing crews into the sea and tearing the nets, are common. In such cases, survival depends on the swift assistance of nearby boats. | Photo Credit: Joseph Rahul
Also Read | Out at sea: Behind the scenes at Veraval The fisherfolk still rely more on their traditional knowledge of ocean currents, tides, and weather changes rather than on technology to steer themselves through the seas. But the absence of a robust communication system is felt most strongly during emergencies. Lives have been lost simply because a boat has been unable to contact the mainland or other passing ships in times of distress.
Such tragedies, however, are a part of life for the families of the fisherfolk living along the coasts. As a coping mechanism, their stories are woven into the legends that outlive individual lives and become part of the community’s collective memory. And the fishermen continue to set sail in spite of the dangers, hanging on to their dream of a sizeable catch.
This photo essay documents the daily lives of these men riding the high seas. The photographs were taken between 2020 and 2024. Joseph Rahul is a documentary photographer from Kochi, Kerala.