Mr Fisher: Taking viewers on a real time ride on a fishing vessel

Imagine yourself on a boat, rocking with the waves as salty wind brushes against your face. There is only water everywhere, to the horizon and beyond. As the crew brave the roll, and pull in the gigantic net, it swells with tonnes of fish, putting a smile on their faces.

Isn't it very adventurous? Yes, because someone's everyday life is someone else's adventure. And even if you cannot feel the thrill first-hand, you can at least watch it from the comfort of your home, without facing any of the dangers that the profession may carry for the crew.

Md Jahidur Rahman, a fishing boat skipper, has been sharing videos of fishing operations in the Bay of Bengal for some time now, and one can watch the everyday life of our sea-going fishers aboard the trawlers, as well as many other tiny details of the business.

While wooden fishing boats are common along the coastline of the country, industrial fishing vessels fitted with modern equipment are only seen in the Chattogram area. As a result, the videos of the boats operating in the sea have drawn the attention of viewers. Jahid says it is the main goal of his vlogging.

"People of Bangladesh know little about marine fishing. It is clear in the comments section of our videos - many cannot believe the things they see in them," Jahidur Rahman told The Business Standard.

True. We noticed one comment which accused the page of posting 'foreign' videos with dubbed Bangla commentary.

Photo: Courtesy

"The goal of the videos is to let people know about our marine fishing industry: how we use the latest fishing equipment on modern fishing vessels, which people have only seen on television," said Jahid.

"I started making these videos during the Covid-19 pandemic when my baby was born. I started a page called Mr Fisher [on Facebook] that sells sea fish. I also started to post videos on the page simultaneously," he added.

Jahid and his wife, who is a doctor by profession, started the business, and later two of Jahid's school friends joined the initiative for better management.

Jahid said there are around 260 registered industrial fishing vessels in the country which use equipment like sonar to detect fish schools and other powerful machinery to catch the fish. He said most Bangladeshi trawlers are from Thailand. The company Jahid works for, R Amin & Brothers, has two trawlers, both from Thailand. 

Photo: Courtesy

"The thing is, overfishing has depleted the fish resources from Thailand's fishing grounds. As catch remarkably fell, the Thai fishers have sold their trawlers," the skipper pointed out.

The fishers go on a 15-25 day voyage in the sea. One such industrial vessel can fetch a maximum of 350 tons of fish. Normally, in a good 20-day voyage, they get around 200 tons of fish.

The fish is kept under the dock, in huge freezer chambers. There are five such fishholds in the vessel Jahid captains, each with a capacity of containing 70-80 tons of fish, where a temperature of around -30 degrees C is maintained.

The vessel has, on the deckside, five officers including the skipper (captain), and three engineers and four technical assistants on the engine side. There are also two helmsmen to assist the deck side. Apart from three cooks, 24 sailors are there to run the fishing operations. Altogether, 42-43 crew are there in these fishing vessels.

According to law, these vessels have to fish in at least 40m depth of the sea, Jahid said. Therefore, a trawler has to go 150 km away from the baseline.

Jahid has been working in the industry for 13 years, with different companies. From the experience, crew members know which fish is available in which area of the sea in a particular season.

Photo: Courtesy

So how dangerous and, at the same time, thrilling is the profession? We asked.

"According to Bangladesh's law, fishing trawlers must be under 50 feet in length. So during bad weather when the sea is rough, it is difficult for such a small vessel to cope well. Last year in September an industrial trawler capsized in the Bay," the skipper said.

"Of course, there is life-saving equipment in the boat and regular surveys are conducted by the Mercantile Marine Department. Also, in a life-threatening situation, the Navy and Coast Guard usually come to our rescue," he added.

"About the thrill - the thrill is there at the beginning. Then it becomes like a 9 to 5 job, you do it because you have to," Jahid said, laughing.

Jahid earned his Bachelor from the Marine Fisheries Academy in 2009. Since the founding of the Marine Fisheries Academy 50 years back, Jahid said, around 3,000 cadets have graduated. Such a large number of graduates cannot be employed by the 200-odd fishing vessels in the country. It can employ at best 1300-1400 officers.

However, the Mercantile Marine Department now issues Continuous Discharge Certificates (CDC), a seafarer's identity document, to all the graduates from both the Marine Fisheries Academy and Bangladesh Marine Academy, allowing both to join merchant vessels. 

As a result, hardly any cadet remains unemployed once graduated, Jahid said.