When Ashoka* heard the approaching boots, he began to tremble with fear. The 23-year-old was in the engine room of his boat while three Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) men boarded the vessel. When Ashoka, an Indian fisherman from Pamban Island in India’s southernmost tip, came on deck, he saw officers beating and pushing the eight fishermen on his boat, using guns, iron bars and wooden logs.
The ordeal continued for an hour, with one of the men in uniform shouting, “Beat them hard, harder,” recalled Ashoka, who was also beaten.
The fishermen – all Indians – were later handcuffed and chained, the ends of the steel cutting into the skin and causing itching. Chained together, neither of them could move; otherwise, they would all fall. The fishermen were taken to a navy camp in Karainagar, northern Sri Lanka. Fifteen days later, two men – who the fishermen would later learn were from the Indian embassy in Colombo – visited and were given towels and soap. The men were finally released a month after being arrested.
It was 2019 and fishermen had been arrested near Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island that is under Sri Lankan territory, for fishing in that country’s waters. Yet the horrors of Ashoka’s experience have become increasingly common since then – peaking in 2024 with a rise in the number of Indian fishermen arrested by Sri Lanka, amid rising tensions over allegations that military authorities mistreat them in detention.
A record 535 Indian fishermen were arrested by Sri Lanka in 2024 – nearly double the previous year – according to Indian government data. As of November 29, 141 Indian fishermen remained in Sri Lankan jails, with 198 fishermen confiscated.
In September, five fishermen who had crossed into Sri Lankan waters returned to Pamban with toned heads after being arrested and – according to the fishermen – treated as convicts. They had to pay fines of 50,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($170) each to secure their release.
Protests erupted within the fishing community in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where Pamban falls, against their government over frustrations that New Delhi has been unable to ensure their safety. Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, three other Indian fishermen were sentenced to six months in jail along with fines.
The SLN and the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to Al Jazeera’s emails seeking comment on allegations that Sri Lankan officers mistreat arrested fishermen.
“I wish they would treat us like humans,” says Ashoka.
“This is our fishing ground”
The Gulf of Mannar, an inlet of the Indian Ocean connecting India and Sri Lanka, is rich in biodiversity and a source of livelihood for the fishermen of both countries. Kachchateevu, a small island in the Palk Strait, a part of the ocean that separates the two countries, was historically a common fishing ground for Indians and Sri Lankans. Indian fishing rights in the region were revoked in 1976 after the island was handed over to Sri Lanka by India in 1974. Today, Kachchateevu is a site of frequent arrests of Indian fishermen.
For Indian fishermen in Pamban, crossing the maritime border into Sri Lankan waters is a matter of survival.
The catch from the Indian side has been in decline amid climate change, increasing plastic pollution in the sea and rampant use of mechanized fishing for decades. Fishermen, who scrape the seabed in search of fish, destroy the seabed habitat, including coral reefs. This in turn disrupts breeding cycles. Marine experts also blame trawlers for polluting the sea from abandoned nets and fuel spills.
The seabed on the Indian side is rocky and the international boundary near fishing grounds such as Rameswaram in Pamban begins at a distance of only 12 nautical miles (about 22 km) from the coast, reducing the fishing area for Indian fishermen. For these fishermen, the waters beyond the maritime boundary are legitimate territory to navigate.
“This is our fishing ground. Fishermen cross the border knowing full well that they can be arrested or even die. If the fishermen come back without any fish, they cannot survive,” says P Jesuraja, president of a mechanized boat fishermen association in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram district.
Often, however, fishermen enter Sri Lankan waters without intending to go there, he added.
“About half the time fishermen move to the Sri Lankan side because of water currents or if it’s too dark or raining,” says Jesuraja.
“The War of the Fishermen”
In many ways, experts and fishermen acknowledge that India has contributed to this crisis through policies it first pushed seven decades ago.
Starting in the 1950s, supported by international funding, India encouraged the use of trawlers. The result was an increase in the income of Indian fishermen, but at the cost of the destruction of coral reef formations. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan side has a relatively rich fish population: the waters are shallower and the country has a wider continental shelf that is more favorable for fishing. Sri Lanka’s marine ecosystem is richer than India’s also because it does not allow trawling.
Sri Lankan fishermen fear that Indian fishermen in their waters will eventually lead to the decline of marine populations – just as happened in Indian waters.
“This looks like a war between the fishermen of both countries,” adds Jesuraja.
While the Indian government engages in diplomatic talks with Sri Lanka to secure the fishermen’s release, it is unable to get their boats back — a lifetime investment gone forever, Jesuraja said.
Adding to their problems, in 2019 the United States imposed a ban on wild-caught Indian shrimp because the country’s vessels often do not deploy what are known as turtle exclusion devices. These devices allow turtles accidentally caught while fishing to escape. India has no regulations requiring the use of these devices, so fishermen avoid using them.
India’s Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) estimates that the country has lost $500 million in shrimp export earnings since the US ban took effect. This ban in turn has meant that other countries are able to bargain for lower prices as they seek to buy Indian prawns, Jesuraja says.
The rise in the cost of oil has also hit Indian fishermen. “Before, oil was 50 rupees (about $0.6 at the current exchange rate) per liter, and a kilogram of shrimp would sell for 700 rupees ($8). Now the rate of oil is almost 100 rupees per liter and per kilogram of prawn is sold for 400-500 rupees ($4.6-5.8),” says Jesuraja.
“Less fish, more plastic”
However, Jesuraja argues that climate change and increased marine pollution represent the biggest challenges facing Indian fishermen.
“The problem in India is plastic waste, not trawlers,” he says. “Reducing plastic waste will solve half our problems.”
“About 10 years ago, when we put a fishing net in the sea, we only caught fish. Nowadays, the amount of fish is less than plastic waste,” says Marivel, a fisherman from Pamban Island, Tamil Nadu.
Earlier, the rainy season would be good for fishermen, including those who catch sardines. Now, due to irregular rain patterns, the supply of fresh water has dwindled, leading to a sharp decline in sardines, Marivel said. Due to the increasing frequency of cyclones between November and February, fishermen are also unable to go out to sea for several days.
As fishermen face declining incomes, women are forced to venture into the deep sea to collect seaweed as an alternative source of income. But even this practice has been affected by climate change.
About a decade ago, women from Pamban Island began collecting seaweed after fishing income began to decline. Marie, a seaweed picker in Pamban, says that this year she could only collect about 3 kg of seaweed per day, while about 10 years ago, she collected 20-25 kg per day.
Women are often required to dive up to 3.5 meters (12 feet) under the sea without any protective equipment to collect seaweed.
Increased phytoplankton blooms in the sea due to erratic rains and rising sea temperatures are causing erosion of seaweed and coral. As a result, small fish are unable to breathe and die on the shore, says Gayatri Usman, station manager of Kadal Osai, a community radio station in the region.
The radio station, run by fisherfolk in Rameswaram, helps raise awareness about climate change through local traditions, folk stories and songs. She recently offered 1,000 rupees ($11.6) to any fisherman who rescued a turtle.
“Our aim (is) to make people aware of climate change. We can’t change climate change, but the idea is to make them aware. Our motto is: think globally and act locally. Only if we think of local solutions to climate change, we can fight it globally,” says Usman.
But for many fishing families, it is already too late. The string of arrests they and their friends have faced in recent months means many want their future generations to stay away from fishing. “We would never want our children to be fishermen or marry a fisherman,” says Marivel.
