At 3 pm on a Sunday, the beach adjoining the fishing village of Bandaruvanipeta is bustling with activity as fishermen prepare to head out to sea for the night. The beach is lined with teppas (fishing boats) and large bundles of fishing nets. Bandaruvanipeta is situated along the Bay of Bengal in the Srikakulam district of northern Andhra Pradesh.
G Apparao and K Dasu sit atop bundles of gillnets, their tiffins and bottles of water by their side, waiting for the rest of their crew members to arrive. Together they carry the nets onto their boat – each net weighing about 70 kg – and with help from other fishermen on the beach, they push their motorised fibreglass teppa towards the water.
“Navigating our teppa through the forceful waves is quite challenging, especially when the sea is stormy. There are many rocks on this part of the coast, so we must be careful, especially during low tide,” says Apparao.
“We leave in the evening around 4 pm and come back the next day at 7 am. We go fishing at night because that is when we catch the big fish. However, we can never tell how much we’ll catch. Occasionally, when the catch is good, we earn up to Rs 90,000, which is divided among the five crew members as well as the boat owner, who keeps double the share. But on other days, we stay out all night and return with nothing,” adds Dasu.
Apparao and Dasu have both recently returned to their village from Veraval, a major fishing hub in Gujarat, where they work as khalasis (crew members) on a large, mechanised fishing vessel (or trawlers) for six months a year. Many of the other fishermen from their village and from neighbouring fishing villages are still in Gujarat and will return to their homes only in May.
Outward migration
Unofficial estimates suggest that over 25,000 fisherfolk migrate from Srikakulam to various parts of the western coast of India to work onboard mechanised trawlers. “Many of them travel to Veraval in Gujarat, Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, and to Mangalore in Karnataka, where large fishing harbours with trawlers offer better wage opportunities,” says Arjilli Dasu, the executive director of the Visakhapatnam-based District Fishermen Youth Welfare Association.
During our field visit, Mongabay India found out that rough seas and frequent cyclones on the east coast, the absence of jetties and harbours to dock their boats, dwindling fish stocks due to competition with trawlers operating from Visakhapatnam and Odisha, rising fuel costs and lack of market linkages for the sale of their catch are a few of the reasons driving the migration.
“Fisherfolk from Andhra are also highly skilled and sought after because of their experience navigating the rough seas of the Bay of Bengal,” Arijilli Dasu points out.
Most fishermen who go to Veraval for work live on the fishing vessels owned by seths (boat owners in Gujarat), for six to 10 months, a 2016 study by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) details. They leave their villages in August each year and return in late May the following year, coinciding with the two-month fishing ban imposed on the west coast between June 1 to July 31.
Work on the mechanised trawlers is fraught with hardship, with crew members living on the boats with limited resources for 29 days a month. Each vessel has nine khalasis (crew members) and one thandel (captain), according Arjilli Dasu. “The vessels dock at the harbour once every 30 days to drop off the catch, refuel and restock supplies. Water is scarce; most vessels don’t have toilets or enough water for the crew members to bathe regularly,” he says.
“If we fall sick, we take some basic medicines and continue to work. There is nobody to take care of us and no proper medical care is available,” says 50-year-old Apparao. He has been traveling to Veraval harbour for work since he was 16.
Despite these challenges, working at Veraval is preferable for small-scale fishers. “The fishermen get paid a fixed monthly wage, unlike the share-of-the-catch system prevalent in Andhra and many other states, which is a major reason for most fisherfolk to migrate for work,” Apparao and his crew members explain.
“We get a monthly wage of Rs 15,000 in Gujarat, which is paid as a lump sum to our families. The work is gruelling, but we are able to save money. We live on the boat the whole time so our expenses are few and we are able to save the full amount and use it for our children’s education, to build concrete houses and for other needs,” Apparao says.
A khalasi receives between Rs 12,000 and Rs 20,000 per month depending on his experience and seniority, and the thandel, who is the captain of the boat and is instrumental in recruiting the crew members, can make up to Rs 40,000 a month.
While the men migrate for work, their families remain in the villages. Traditionally, fisherwomen have played a crucial role in allied activities including cleaning, sorting and drying of the fish, as well as selling them. Each morning, they travel from one village to the next to sell the day’s catch. The involvement of women in allied activities is now declining, with wives of migrant fishermen increasingly staying at home, according to the ICSF study.
Badi Laxmamma from D Matchilesam village, whose husband and two sons are currently working on a fishing vessel in Veraval, says, “During the nine months that my husband and sons are away, I am constantly worried about their health and safety. But there are no other opportunities available for us here. The markets are far away and selling the fish at the local market is not profitable for us. Even the educated youth in our village are unable to find jobs elsewhere.”
Jetties, harbour
Of the 533 marine fishing villages along the coast of Andhra, Srikakulam district has 122 fishing villages – the maximum in the state – with a fisher population exceeding 92,000, according to the most recent marine fisheries census conducted in 2016 by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute.
Fishers from the district have been demanding jetties and fishing harbours for a long time. Currently, Srikakulam district has only one mini-fishing harbour in Bhavanapadu and the Andhra government is in the process of constructing another in Budagatlapalem village in the district. “Making a living out of fishing is difficult here. There is no jetty where we can dock our boats. So, we have to push the boats and carry our nets every day. Even after all this effort, the catch is uncertain,” says Apparao.
“Frequent cyclones are also reducing the number of fishing days,” he adds, pointing to several super cyclones that have struck the region in the past decade, causing significant damages. In 2018, Cyclone Titli led to over 500 boats in Srikakulam district getting lost, or fully or partially damaged, an impact report found.
“If we have a harbour or mini jetty in our village, we won’t need to travel so far for work. We can go fishing for two to three days at a time. It would make our lives easier. Overcoming the waves is the greatest challenge for us. If there is a jetty, we won’t have to do that every day,” says Dhoni Laxman Rao from D Matchilesam village, which lies 30 km south of Bandaruvanipeta.
However, building a jetty or a harbour may not be enough to stop fisherfolk from moving out of the state for work, as many families lack the financial capital to buy larger motorised boats that can be docked at the harbours, explains Venkatesh Salagrama, a Kakinada-based marine consultant who has worked extensively in small-scale fisheries.
While some fisherfolk like Apparao own motorised fibreglass teppas which are about 30 ft long and can carry up to seven people, others use smaller teppas navigated using sails, or catamarans which have to be rowed with a paddle. Other infrastructure support, such as landing centres, storage facilities and market-linkages are essential for small-scale fisheries to thrive.
Ecological considerations
Additionally, there are ecological costs to consider when building a harbour or a jetty. The eastern coast of India is often ravaged by tropical cyclones originating in the Bay of Bengal basin and is more prone to erosion. The establishment of hard structures such as harbours and jetties can lead to an increase in coastal erosion, according to a national shoreline assessment published in 2022. Global studies note that the construction of jetties causes coastal erosion in downdrift areas.
“Setting up a jetty could start the process of erosion and accretion along the coast. So, building a harbour or a jetty near one village may simply transfer the problem to the next village,” says Salagrama.
The Andhra government is also promoting industries including shrimp aquaculture along coastal villages. A 2013 study in East Godavari district of Andhra showed high rates of saltwater intrusion in villages surrounded by aquaculture ponds, rendering the groundwater unfit for consumption or agricultural use.
“The government is promoting coast-based industries and investing in the construction of large ports, which only lead to further pollution along the coastline. These industries do not provide decent work for fisherfolk, since they do not have the technical expertise required to work at the factories,” says Dasu.
The Andhra government has invested in four new ports, which are currently under construction, with Mulapeta Port coming up in Srikakulam district. Fisherfolk from the neighbouring Bhavanapadu village, which has the only functioning fishing harbour in the district, complain that since work began on the Mulapeta port project, there has been an increase in the rate of sedimentation at the entrance of the creek they use to reach the sea.
Salagrama points out that while the trend of migration to the west coast started in Srikakulam, fisherfolk from other districts in Andhra have also started to migrate out of the state, as catches dwindle and fishing from their villages becomes unviable.
The story of small-scale fishers of Srikakulam reflects a broader narrative playing out across India’s coastline, where artisanal fishing communities navigate shifting tides of development and environmental changes.
The ICSF study brings forth the importance for the government to formalise systems relating to migration, both in labour-sending and labour-receiving states. Policy measures to protect the rights of the migrants, registering and documenting migration, mandating contracts that give fisherfolk more bargaining power, and including workers in local unions could go a long way in ensuring better conditions for traditional fishers who migrate for work.
This article was first published on Mongabay.
