Gujarat fisherfolk in crisis after two summers of war

For two successive years, Gujarat’s peak fishing season has been struck by war.

Last summer, the conflict between India and Pakistan prompted the Gujarat fisheries department to recall boats out at sea.

This summer, as fishermen race to haul up catch before the monsoon fishing ban kicks in, the war in West Asia has cut off export markets, tanking the prices of fish.

“The rates for ghol fish have fallen by Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000 per kg,” said Siddik Jasraya, who heads the Fishermen Boat Association in Salaya, a village in Dwarka, home to around 800 fishing boats. The highly valued ghol fish can cost up to Rs 12,000 per kg.

Squids are exported to Europe at Rs 500 per kg but the price has dropped to Rs 250, said Damodar Chamudiya, another fisher from Junagadh district.

While the prices of fish have plummeted, equipment like fishing nets have become costlier. Nets are made from plastic and nylon, which are petrochemical products now in low supply due to the war.

The war has compounded an already burgeoning crisis in Gujarat’s fishing industry, which has battled rising tariffs, stricter regulations and increased input costs in recent years. “If you add to this the ecological crisis of fisheries, where costs of fishing have gone up but fish landings have shifted to those species that fetch lower prices, the fishers are facing a squeeze on both the input and output side,” said Siddharth Chakravarty, working committee member with the National Federation of Small Scale Fishworkers.

Jasraya said: “In the next season, if things do not normalise, maybe half of the boats would not run.”

Exports hit

Gujarat accounts for 17% of the India’s total exports. The state is home to about 27,000 mechanised boats, which include trawlers, gill netters that operate by setting panels of net, and fibre-glass boats. Mechanised boat operators have been the worst hit by the war in West Asia since their produce is exported.

Exporters have paused or cancelled shipments because alternate trade routes and longer transit times have increased the risks of handling perishable goods like seafood.

“Middle-men who buy from us and then export are not offering us good rates,” said Veljibhai, who is a part of the National Fishworkers Forum and whose family runs four large boats near Veraval. “They are saying that the produce is not getting exported ahead. As a result, we have to sell it domestically.”

Fishers selling their catch to states like Maharashtra, Kerala and West Bengal are getting lower rates. Jasraya told Scroll that the pomfret is being sold at a discount of Rs 200-250 per kg.

While most catch is sent as frozen material, some of it was also exported by air to West Asian countries as fresh produce. “That used to give us good rates, almost 1.5 times that of the frozen, but now this has also stopped,” said Chamudiya.

Equipment costs rise

Since the US-Israel war on Iran in February, the cost of fishing equipment has increased. Many of these materials are petrochemical products, which are manufactured after refining crude oil. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, along Iran’s coast, has restricted crude oil shipments.

Boats are mostly made of fibre glass and used to cost 40 lakh, but have now almost doubled to Rs 55 lakh-Rs 60 lakh, said Chamudiya, who is also the president of the Mahavir Fisheries Cooperative Society.

Fibre-glass is made of glass and resin – glass requires liquified natural glass, while resin is a petrochemical product. Resin is also used for repairs but its cost has increased by Rs 70-Rs 80 per kg, said Chamudiya. “So now, even boat repairs have become expensive.”

The price of fishing nets has also increased. “1kg of fishing net used to cost Rs 190,” said Jasraya. “Now, it has come up to about Rs 350.” Gear such as crates and boxes and fibre wire cost Rs 30- Rs 40 more per kg. “A 4kg insulated box for handling fish now costs around Rs 900 from Rs 600,” said Chamudiya.

Fuel worries

In March, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited had increased diesel price by Rs 22.43 per litre. But the state government withdrew the hike since it affected over 3 lakh fishermen.

Veljibhai said representations by the fishing community to the fisheries department had resolved the matter – for now. “But in the near future, we do not know, maybe the prices will ultimately increase,” said Veljibha.

A fuel price hike is already being anticipated after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 11 urged Indians to conserve fuel.

For fishers, costly fuel will be another blow. Chamudiya said every trawling trip consumes 3,000-4,000 litres of diesel. “If the fuel price increases, boats next season will not be able to begin work,” he said.

US tariffs

Gujarat’s fishers are still reeling from the tariffs slapped by United States on India in 2025. The US is India’s largest seafood market and 90% of the exports are frozen shrimp.

In August, the 50% tariff led to a 27% decline in frozen shrimp exports from India, compared to August 2024. Already, India’s shrimp exports had suffered massive losses, of an estimated $500 million up to 2024, after the US in 2019 banned wild-caught shrimp from India over trawling practices.

The US tariffs also affected India’s seafood trade with other countries.

Chakravarty, a working committee member with the National Federation of Small Scale Fishworkers, said tariffs create volatility in global markets, “[Like] in the Chinese seafood processing market, which imports fish from places like India and reprocesses them for value added exports to the US,” he said.

By February, the US reduced India’s tariff burden to 18%. But fishers said the processing of seafood, including shrimp, is slow. “Since the tariffs, exports are still mostly shut,” said Abdullah Bapu Jakho, a fisherman from Kutch. “Right now, we are sending our produce in cold storage in Veraval.”

“It’s been a big loss for fisherfolk as well as the business people involved in the processing,” said Jakho.

Government support

Chakravarty suggested government support to reduce losses and control cost inflation. “This would require capping fuel prices, providing income support, giving low interest loans for repairs and maintenance during monsoon,” said Chakravarty. Similarly, the government can help traders and exporters open up new markets for India’s fish produce.

Fishers in Gujarat said the government could consider earlier demands for livelihood support.

One of these is increased credit. Under the Kisan Credit Card scheme, fishers can take a loan for a maximum of Rs 2 lakh, while in agriculture, the amount can be extended to Rs 3 lakh. But one trawling trip can cost up to Rs 7-8 lakh, said Chamudiya. “If we get working capital through loans, then at least fishers can cover their running costs,” he said. “Otherwise we end up taking informal loans with high interest.” He said fishers had raised this demand at the district and state level for many years.

Another is clearing fuel subsidies. The Gujarat Fisheries department offers a VAT relief scheme for state fishers, providing refunds of Rs 15 per litre of diesel. In Salaya, Jasraya said subsidies were pending for the last one-and-a-half years.

Fishers are now pinning their hopes on the next season. Otherwise, said Chamudiya, “we will be pushed from both sides”.