Lured by huge profits, Acehnese fishermen land in Indian prison

Lured by huge profits, Acehnese fishermen land in Indian prison

By Yasad Ali

BANDA ACEH (Antara): Lured by the big profits they could make
from tuna, 42 fishermen from Aceh went after the fish with such
great zeal in June last year that they found themselves in
India's territorial waters.

They were apprehended by Indian authorities and sentenced to
between one year and one-and-a-half years detention on India's
Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The Indonesian naval ship KRI Tongkol took home 12 of the
fishermen in May and the Navy's Cassa U-620 aircraft flew home
another 14 on Oct. 13. The remaining 16 fishermen will have to
complete their sentences.

According to the returned fishermen, they all got to the
Andaman and Nicobar islands because the waves carried them there.

M. Nasir, a 43-year-old fisherman from Sabang, said that they
went to sea on June 10 last year, and that 10 days later they had
to deal with Indian officials on Nicobar for allegedly violating
India's territorial waters.

"For a week after sailing from Sabang, the distance between
Sabang and Nicobar is about 194 kilometers, we caught about 350
kilograms of tuna. One night, very late and still at sea, we
slept on board the vessel.

"When we woke up the next morning, we saw the lighthouse on
Nicobar island. We tried to return to Indonesian waters but we
got surrounded by officials from the Indian authorities."

According to some other fishermen, they sailed close to
Nicobar solely because they tried to get as much tuna as
possible. Operating close to Nicobar, they said, they could make
Rp 3 million in a week.

Nasir said that besides Acehnese fishermen, fishermen from
other countries have also found themselves stranded on Nicobar.

Fishermen are usually tempted to fish around the Andaman and
Nicobar islands because in the waters of these islands a school
of dolphins can be seen in the company of a large school of tuna.

The fishermen admitted that they were lured by the profit they
could make if they succeeded in catching a great number of tuna,
even if they had to run the risk of illegally entering another
country's territorial waters.

On the two occasions of receiving returning Acehnese
fishermen, commander of the Sabang naval base, Capt. Masril
Mansur, advised them to heed territorial water boundaries
whenever they go fishing.

He said that illegally entering a neighboring country's
territorial waters might disturb friendly relations with that
country.

The returning fishermen promised they would never again go
fishing too close to the territorial waters of other countries.

"We will never again sail close to Nicobar waters. Staying on
the island for over a year was really mental suffering for us.
Besides, being far away from our families, we also had to work
hard for our living," Nasir said.

He quickly added, however, that he would be ready to fish in
the waters of Andaman and Nicobar if the fishermen from Indonesia
and India established a legal cooperation.

In this context, Capt. Mansur suggested that the fishermen of
the two countries should explore the possibility of establishing
such a cooperation, given that tuna abounds in the waters of
Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Separately, head of Aceh's fishery service, Kasbani Kasim,
said that efforts were once made to establish fishing cooperation
between the fishermen from Aceh and their counterparts from
Andaman and Nicobar, but that, unfortunately, the Indian
government had not given its approval.

One of India's objections to this proposed cooperation was
that the fishermen fishing tuna in the waters of Andaman and
Nicobar are not only from Aceh.

With or without the cooperation and despite the ever-looming
risk of being dragged into another country's territorial waters,
many fishermen prefer to take their chances.

"It seems difficult to prevent our fishermen from fishing
close to the Andaman and Nicobar groups. The only thing that we
can do is to always remind them not to go over into another
country's territorial waters," said Kasim, adding that the
fishermen must also be introduced to an alternative means of
making a living.

"The fishery industry, including fish canning, may provide a
quicker way to improve the fishermen's life. It is expected that
the investors in this industry will vie with one another in
recruiting fishermen and providing them with modern fishing
equipment," he added.