Climate change forces millions of India’s fishworkers to venture beyond the country’s exclusive economic zone into the perilous high seas. In their search for a better catch, approximately 4 million of India’s 28 million fishworkers often face increased risks of capture by neighboring countries. “Earlier, fish used to come close to the shore, but now we have to go farther out to find them. Our fishing season lasts about a month, and it takes several days just to reach our fishing spot. This time keeps increasing with each season, and lately, the number of days we spend at sea has doubled,” Jivan R. Jungi, a fishworker leader from Gujarat, India, told IPS.
It has not only made the lives of fishworkers challenging, but it also affects their families, accounting for about 16 million people, according to official data. India, a South Asian country with a 7,500-kilometer coastline, relies on aquatic products such as fish and shrimp for its national income.
According to a recent report by the Indian Express, India exported about 17,81,602 metric tons (MT) of seafood, generating a substantial revenue of ₹60,523.89 crore (USD 7.38 billion) in FY 2023–24. “The government does not take care of us at all, despite the high profit margins in the fishing industry. They fail to provide even the basic benefits that the government can do, like fire safety,” Jungi told IPS. “Our boats are made of wood and run on diesel, which increases the risk of fire. We’ve been requesting safety measures or compensation for years, but nothing has been done, even as we face the growing challenges of climate change.”
Their plight is exacerbated by the Indian government’s policies, including a recent provision in the National Fisheries Policy 2020, which promotes “deep-sea fishing and fishing in areas beyond the national jurisdiction to tap under-exploited resources.” This policy aims to generate more revenue for the nation but does so at the expense of the fishworkers. A report by Down to Earth, quoting a study by Science Direct, indicates that the Indian Ocean could experience a temperature rise of 1.7–3.8 degrees Celsius between 2020 and 2100.
To illustrate the severity, Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, is quoted as saying: “The projected increase in heat content is comparable to adding the energy of one Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion every second, continuously, for an entire decade.” Fishworkers along the entire Indian coastline face mounting challenges, leading to conflicts with neighboring countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Saudi Arabia. According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, between 2020 and 2022, more than 2,600 Indian fishworkers were imprisoned in ten countries across the Indian Ocean for maritime border incursions. The highest number of arrests occurred in Pakistan (1,060), followed by Saudi Arabia (564) and Sri Lanka (501).
The issue of maritime boundaries and fishing rights goes deeper, often causing conflicts among fishworkers from different countries. When fishworkers cross into another country’s waters and catch fish, the local fishworkers claim ownership of the catch, leading to disputes. This tension among fishworkers can have severe consequences. Moreover, after the arrest, instead of being treated as civilian prisoners, they sometimes face dire conditions, including the risk of death in foreign prisons. As reported by the Ministry of External Affairs, nine Indian fishermen died in Pakistani jails over the past five years.
In 2022, an Indian fisherman named Maria Jesind reportedly had been killed in an Indonesian prison. This situation is too familiar to fishworkers, particularly those from India and Pakistan, who have long been caught in the political crossfire between their governments. Historically, the lack of a clear demarcation line has forced fishworkers deeper into the sea without adequate security. As a result, both countries have been arresting fishworkers from each other’s territories for years now. Last year, 499 fishworkers were released by Pakistan on July 3, 2023, after numerous attempts at their release by civil society organizations.
These fishworkers, charged with violating the Passport Act for trespassing on water borders, are imprisoned after court trials, usually receiving sentences of a few months. The official sentence is typically six months, but the release of these fishworkers is rarely prompt, with many spending more than five years. “But several have died. Balo Jetah Lal died in a Pakistani prison in May 2023; Bichan Kumar alias Vipan Kumar (died April 4, 2023); Soma Deva (died May 8, 2023); and Zulfiqar from Kerala (died May 6, 2023) in Karachi prison,” Jungi says, adding, “Vinod Laxman Kol died on March 17 in Karachi and his mortal remains were brought to his village in Maharashtra on May 1, 2024.” While the arrests and deaths affect the families of the fishworkers, they also have a broader impact on the community, challenging their way of life and livelihood. Fishworkers now demand that they not be arrested or shot at, but rather pushed back if they cross maritime boundaries.
After their release, the fishworkers struggle to make ends meet because the arresting government rarely returns their boats, resulting in a lifelong debt of around Rs. 50–60 lakhs (USD 5–6 million) per boat. As a result, the workers now demand that their boats be returned and that the government ensure that the families of arrested fishworkers receive support through policies and schemes, including educational opportunities for their children, to prevent them from falling into extreme poverty.