Six months back, 43-year-old Malpalli Anand Rao, a fisher from Srikurmam village in Srikakulum district of Andhra Pradesh left home. He had heard stories of fishers from his district travelling over 1,300 kilometres to the other coast of India — the west coast where Malpe fishing harbour is located in Karnataka — to labour as fish workers and double their earnings. Rao, who used to work at a private vessel in Visakhapatnam, decided to try his luck, too.
“I had heard that in Karnataka, fish workers earn between Rs 500 and Rs 800 a day, based on the fish catch, which is much higher than Rs 100-300 a day we manage to earn in Andhra. So, six months back, I left my wife and two kids and came to Malpe in Udupi district of Karnataka,” Rao told Gaon Connection.
For the initial four months, things seemed to be going fine. “We used to leave Malpe harbour in boats and remain in deep sea fishing for 10-12 days. Then return to the harbour for a day or two and undertake the next fishing trip for another 10-12 days,” he added.
In early March this year, when Rao and fellow fish workers left the Malpe harbour for fishing, they had no clue what awaited them after they return. “We reached Malpe on March 22 and got busy with clearing the fish stocks and allied activities. By then the news of coronavirus had spread like wildfire. And within two days, the nationwide lockdown was announced,” said Rao.
Since March 22, Rao, is stranded in a boat at the Malpe fishing harbour in Karnataka. And, he is not alone.
“For the last 40 days, due to the lockdown, at least 500 migrant fishers from Andhra are stranded at Malpe harbour, and another over 250 Andhra fish workers are stuck at Mangalore fishing harbour of Karnataka,” Rehman, a fisher leader with the Traditional Fishworkers Trade Union Andhra Pradesh told Gaon Connection. “They are complaining of poor living conditions in the fishing boats and not enough food to eat. Some have started showing mental health issues. We are talking to the authorities to help these fishers return home,” he added.
The announcement of nationwide lockdown on March 24 has hit the migrant fish workers badly. Over a lakh such workers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand were stranded in boats along the Maharashtra coastline.
Another set of migrant fish workers from Andhra, estimated to be between 4,000 and 6,000, were stranded in their boats at Veraval fishing port in Gujarat. It is only after two migrant fishers died at Veraval that both the state governments (Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat) and the Central government got into action to rescue the others. Buses were organised and these stranded fishers have now been sent back to their home state Andhra Pradesh, over 2,000 kms away.
“Fishers from Andhra have gone back home from Veraval, Gujarat. Why is the government not ready to rescue us? Is it important for some fish workers to die here to get the government’s attention,” asked Prakash Bade, a 28-year-old fisher from Kapasukuddi village in Srikakulam district of Andhra.
Since March 22, he, along with 250 more migrant fish workers, is stranded at the Mangalore fishing harbour in Karnataka.
According to him, apart from these 250 migrant fishers from Andhra, there are fish workers from Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh who are also stuck at the Mangalore harbour due to the lockdown.
Pre-monsoon showers have started in Karnataka and stranded fish workers are finding it difficult to live on the boats. “The fishing boats have only one small cabin that can accommodate a few people. We all cannot fit in there and sleep. And it is raining for the last three to four days,” said Bade. “Because of the mosquito menace, we cannot sleep in the night. Four fish workers have got malaria,” he alleged.
The toilet is also far at the jetty and migrant fishers have to cross several boats to reach there.
“We are being provided two meals a day, but we want to go home. The authorities can quarantine us after we reach Srikakulam, but at least get us out of these boats,” he pleaded.
Meanwhile, at Malpe, migrant fishers are complaining of poor quality of food and not getting sufficient food quantity. “We get one meal at noon and the next meal at seven in the evening. Both rice and sambhar are poorly cooked and in limited quantity. If we complain we are threatened,” said Rao.
According to him, most migrant fish workers have no money on them because of the loss of fish catch due to coronavirus pandemic. “Because of coronavirus fear and the lockdown, we could not sell our fish catch and had to throw huge quantities of dead fish back into the sea. In my last fishing trip of 10-12 days, I could earn only Rs 2,000,” said Rao. He was hoping to a make good amount of money and return home in the end of May when the 61-day fishing ban period starts on the west coast. “We migrant fish workers have lost at least three months earning [March, April and May]. But all we want is to go home and be with our families,” he added.
A report by India Spend has quoted the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), the country’s only national centre for research on fisheries and fish-processing, claiming the lockdown is inflicting a daily loss of Rs 224 crore on the sector. The mechanised sector will see daily losses in the range of Rs 197 crore while the small-scale, non-mechanised fishing sector will experience losses to the tune of Rs 27 crore a day, reads the report.
The National Fishworkers’ Forum, a federation of state-level trade unions in India, has been demanding a special relief package from the Government of India for the fishing community that has been badly hit due to the lockdown.
In its latest letter dated April 15 to the Union Fisheries Minister, Giriraj Singh, the Forum has asked to “immediately provide livelihood financial relief measure of Rs 15,000/month/fishing household across capture and allied sectors and include all workers, sorters, dryers, vendors [without the limiting condition of Aadhaar card]. It also asked to “immediately undertake measures to secure the health and safety of the migrant workers in the sector and arrange for their safe repatriation to their places of residence.”
“We are leaving no stone unturned to bring our fishers back from Karnataka. But the government is not showing any interest. We do not want any more migrant fish workers to die,” Lakshmi, president of the Traditional Fishworkers Trade Union Andhra Pradesh told Gaon Connection.
On April 29, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order for the movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded due to the lockdown at different places in the country. It has said “all States/ UTs should designate nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending such stranded persons.” People have to be screened and those found asymptomatic can be transported in groups through buses. Upon reaching their destination, such people have to be kept in home quarantine.
“We are ready for all testing and quarantine. Just get us out of these boats and allow us to return home to our families and children,” said Bade whose daughters are five-year-old and three-year-old.
How much longer before these migrant fish workers return home?
