It’s been almost a year since two Indian fishermen went missing in Bahrain and their young families have not been informed. They vanished without a trace while out at sea and the lack of information on their whereabouts has only increased the anxiety felt by the families. To make matters even more dire, they are struggling to survive with the loss of their main breadwinner.
On October 17, 2022, Sahaya Celso (37) and Anthony George Vincent (33) left Bahrain aboard the dhow BH9102 for a routine two-day fishing trip. When they did not return, their employer, Tarek Almajid, reported them missing. The pair, from Tamil Nadu state in southern India (Kadiapattinam, Kanyakumari district), had been employed by Almajid for 15 years. On October 22, the Bahrain Coast Guard informed Almajid that a colleague in Qatar had reported seeing a Bahraini dhow on radar alongside an Iranian vessel in Bahraini territorial waters.
Fishermen in Muharraq, the Saudi Arabian port region where the couple lived, are worried about their plight. “Indian fishermen in Iran saw the boat capsized at the border. It was partially damaged and missing an engine. It appears the boat had a Bahraini registration number but we haven’t heard anything more about it,” claims an Indian fisherman named Justin. “After 10 months, everyone seems to have given up.”
The families of the missing fishermen and Father John Churchill, general secretary of the Indian South Asia Fishermen’s Federation, have contacted various authorities to locate the fishermen. “We have written to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, the Indian External Affairs Minister, the Indian ambassador to Bahrain and local authorities.”
A difficult situation
The fishing sector in the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) is in a tragic state in many ways. Overfishing, reclamation and climate change are having devastating effects on marine life and the people who depend on it for their livelihoods.
Please read the Migrant-Rights.Org white paper on the fishing sector below:
Vincent and Celso each have two young children. Celso’s wife, Suba, is distraught and cannot bear the uncertainty over her husband’s fate. “Our world has stopped and there is no one to save us,” says Suba, 28, as well as the emotional stress of her husband’s disappearance and struggling to survive financially.
“I have tried everything – through local officials, parliamentary and parliamentary representatives, civil society organisations, writing to New Delhi and Bahrain asking for help to find my husband. It is horrifying to think about and no one knows where he is. And now, 10 months later, we literally have no food to feed our daughters, let alone clothes or an education. I am an orphan and both of my husband’s parents are sick and one of them is bedridden. I don’t know what to do to move forward in life. At the same time, I am constantly worried about my husband.”
Both women said they could not afford their mortgage and rent. Vincent’s 32-year-old wife, Subi, was forced to live with her elderly parents. “No one seems to care and there is no power, but we are stuck in this precarious and impoverished situation and I cannot see my child who is hungry most of the time. My 65-year-old father now has to go out to work to provide for the children. I am at a loss.”
The plight of migrant fishermen
Fishermen work long hours at sea, in harsh conditions and receive meager wages. Employment contracts are mandatory under Bahraini labour law, but often these are not respected or signed at all. Fishermen are rarely paid a regular salary, instead receiving a percentage of the catch as compensation. This amount is shared among the crew, with the captain receiving the largest share. The bigger the catch, the higher the compensation, which encourages fishermen to take risks at sea, such as crossing borders to access richer waters or fishing during closed periods during the breeding season. Both actions can lead to the seizure and detention of their fishing vessels. If arrested abroad, their release usually requires the intervention of their sponsor (ship owner), employing country, home country and detaining country, none of which are willing to take responsibility for the crew’s plight.
In most cases, the vessels are owned and licensed by Bahraini nationals, the captains are issued identity cards by the Bahraini Coast Guard and employ their own crew, who are not provided with safety equipment and typically do not receive any insurance or social benefits.
In 2015, Bahrain installed state-of-the-art Automatic Identification System (AIS) equipment on around 7,500 small fishing vessels registered with its coast guard as part of a new maritime security initiative. However, organizations such as the International Fishermen Development Trust (INFIDET), the South Asia Fishermen Federation, and the National Domestic Workers Movement of India document a large number of fishermen killed or missing across the region. At least three fishermen have been reported dead since 2014, according to INFIDET. Official reports say they died in armed robbery at sea, but offer few details or evidence. Thomas Grattas Soosai, 47, from Tamil Nadu, India, was allegedly shot dead by pirates on May 21, 2014, in an area called Arqah, 10 nautical miles northwest of Bahrain’s maritime border.
Siluvai Mathivaran (48), from Tamil Nadu, was allegedly shot dead in another robbery attempt near the Saudi Arabia-Iran maritime border on May 29, 2015. Mathivaran and four others on board the dhow reportedly strayed unaware into Iranian territorial waters. Antony Arul Anish (21), died in Qatari waters on August 3, 2015. He too was allegedly shot dead while fishing with companions on board a Qatari dhow. His body was recovered in Bahraini waters two days later by a Bahraini naval patrol.
Justin Antony, president of INFIDET, noted that the fact that three fishermen have been shot to death in the past two years “leans us to believe there is more to this story than has been made public.” In addition to these deaths, INFIDET has also reported several missing fishermen, all from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu: Antony and Vijayan (2007, from Kanyakumari), Thomson Britt (2013, from the same town), Manickam (2009, from Tirunelveli district), and Tresaiah Valnanthu (2001, from Tuticorin district).
Sister Josephine Valarmathi of India’s National Domestic Workers Movement reiterated concern for fishermen, mostly from India’s southern states, who migrate to the Gulf region to make a living.
“Fishermen must be covered by a proper insurance scheme,” she said in a statement to Migrant-Rights.Org. “They should receive training before they set sail, and all boats should be equipped with devices and systems to track the vessels while they are out at sea. Governments should pay compensation to grieving families in the event of fishermen going missing or dying.”
Sister Valarmathi also mentioned the practice of sponsors who hire the men and take money from them as informal insurance to assist them in case of any accidents. “Some of the men claimed that they had given around INR 3,00,000 as insurance money to their sponsors. Though sponsors demand huge amounts of money, the fishermen are not compensated for their efforts even when they are at risk of going missing or dying. Their families are also not being helped and in such circumstances such practices should be stopped.”
Similarly, former Bahrain resident and human rights activist Padda Lingam argued that Bahraini fishermen should be eligible for benefits from the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), a government-run organization that provides social insurance and pension services for all people covered by the Civil Code (public sector) and the Social Insurance Law (private sector).
“What we see in the majority of situations is that the sponsor or employer is not interested in compensating the family and in case of death, the employment ends as soon as the body is sent. Missing persons cases are the worst. I don’t know why employers don’t do it. Maybe the GOSI requirements are difficult.”
A social worker in Bahrain’s Tamil community said the missing men have yet to be officially contacted by authorities.
According to a former marine licensing official at the Department of Agriculture and Marine Resources, in 2015, 96% of Bahrain’s fishermen were migrants.
Bahrain has not ratified the 2007 International Labor Organization (ILO) Work in Fishing Convention (No. 188), which sets out binding standards that address key issues relating to work on fishing vessels, including occupational safety at sea and on shore, health, medical care, rest periods, written employment contracts, and social security protections equivalent to other workers.
As highlighted in the 2015 ILO study, “Fishermen First – Good Practices to End Labor Exploitation at Sea”, best practices in this area include law enforcement, multisectoral inspection systems, and regional and international efforts to address labor issues. A strong policy environment, political will, and collaboration between workers’ and employers’ organizations are essential to effectively address the challenges facing migrant fishers in Bahrain.
