Coast Guard thinks fishermen seeking better catch in Pak waters

The absence of hi-tech navigation aids was for long thought to be the main cause for scores of Gujarat fishermen straying into Pakistani waters and often getting arrested. But, with the problem showing no signs of abating despite many boats acquiring global positioning systems (GPS), the Coast Guard believes many fishermen are deliberately entering Pakistani waters as the catch is better there. The Coast Guard, therefore, has written to the Gujarat Government to help fight the problem, and has also taken it up with the Union Home Ministry to tackle what has been a niggling problem in the India-Pakistan relationship.

“We have taken up this case with the Gujarat Government so that such cases can be curbed,” Coast Guard Inspector-General (Western region) Rajendra Singh told The Indian Express. “We even have boats patrolling the maritime border round-the-clock to keep a tab on boats straying into Pakistani waters,” he added. Coast Guard sources said until April this year, the force had brought back about 350 Indian boats that had strayed into Pakistani waters compared to 850 all of last year. “These boats stray as deep as 50 km inside Pakistani waters,” a senior Coast Guard official. “But it’s not as if the fishermen don’t know that they have strayed into Pakistani waters.,” he said.

Fishing industry officials in Gujarat, which has 30,000 registered mechanised boats and a coastline of 1,600 km, confirmed the Coast Guard’s suspicions. “Fish along the Gujarat coast have become less compared to the Pakistani coast where water is less polluted and has better quality tiger prawns and other varieties of fishes. Also, fishermen have to recover costs. One deep sea trip costs around Rs 90,000, so fishermen take the risk of straying into Pakistani waters,” said Manishbhai Lodhari, Gujarat secretary of the National Fish Workers Forum.

Saying that they were yet to receive the Coast Guard letter, Gujarat Fisheries department secretary Anil Sutaria said they were already working on the issue. “To avert this problem (of straying), the state Government is taking up a Rs 150-crore project wherein GPS systems will be installed on all 30,000 small and big registered boats,” Sutaria said. “Through this, the fishermen can be tracked centrally and warned. They too can contact us in case of emergency,” he said.

In the net

Indian boats brought back from Pakistan waters

• In 2004 200

• In 2005 503

• In 2006 540

Fishermen languishing in jails

• Pakistan 400 Indians

• India 100 Pakistanis