TN migrant fishers reach home after 3 days; others stranded in Mangaluru

With COVID-19 and the consequential lockdown bringing life to a standstill, the boat owners decided to call off all the fishing operations along the Karnataka coast and the decision has left several migrant fishermen stranded in coastal cities like Mangaluru, Malpe and Karwar.

Mangaluru (Karnataka): Hundreds of migrant fishermen from neighbouring Tamil Nadu working in the fishing crafts at Mangaluru - Karnataka's coastal city - reached their home districts after an arduous journey of three days, while several others from distant states like Assam and West Bengal still remain stranded.

They started from the coastal city on Thursday after their owners decided to send them off as the fisheries sector came to a screeching halt in the wake of a 21-day nationwide lockdown announced to contain the spread of coronavirus disease.

While the fishing crafts are owned by native fishermen in Karnataka, the majority of the workforce for the fishing industry in Karnataka comes from states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and East Indian states like West Bengal and Assam.

With COVID-19 bringing the life to a standstill, the boat owners decided to call off all the fishing operations along the Karnataka coast and the decision left these migrant fishermen stranded in coastal cities like Mangaluru, Malpe and Karwar.

With all modes of transportation suspended due to lockdown, the boat owners in Mangaluru made travel arrangements for their workers. "All fishing operations have been suspended due to the lockdown. Even if we continue fishing, there is no scope of selling the catch. Our fishermen expressed their willingness to go back to their native towns and so we have arranged vehicles for them", said Vinod, a boat owner at Mangalore.

With no clue over the duration of the shutdown, the fishermen said that it is not possible to sustain away from their homes for long. "How would our owners provide us when there is no fishing. Besides, we don't know how long this lockdown will last and we are scared," said J Ashton, a fisherman from Rameswaram working in Mangalore.

After prolonged efforts, Mangaluru Deputy Commissioner sanctioned their travel issuing permits and the fishermen, around 700 of them from Tamil Nadu, left Mangaluru on Thursday.

They reached Karnataka - Tamil Nadu border Sathiamangalam forest - on Friday. "We have waited an entire day before the authorities finally allowed us to leave to our native districts on Friday night," said Gnanam, a fisherman over the phone.

On Saturday morning, the fishers managed to reach their native districts like Ramanathapuram but they were first screened by the health authorities. "We are told that we have to undergo a medical check-up and possible quarantine if found infected. The entire journey was an ordeal we would never forget," Ashton added.

Back in Mangaluru, the entire city has been under a total lockdown since Monday. All the fishing activities, the lifeline of the city, has come to a standstill.

Harish Kumar, deputy director (in- charge), Fisheries said supply of diesel to fishing boats was stopped from Monday. The deep-sea fishing boats which arrived earlier have unloaded their catch. So far, about 3,000 crew members mostly from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have been sent back home. About 2,100 crew members were sent back home in 120 vehicles on Thursday while 600 of them left on Wednesday, he said.

However, a small group of fishing workers especially from West Bengal and Assam are still stranded in the coastal region with no way of heading back to their home towns. "Among my crew, there are ten people from West Bengal alone and I don't know how to send them back," said Vinod, a boat owner.