There are flags everywhere. Hundreds of tricolours fluttering amid a sea of red, blue, yellow and green of the vessel flags mounted atop the masts of fishing trawlers at Porbandar Port. Fishermen say the last time there were so many flags at the port, it was during the cyclone of 1998, when 23 of them had lost their lives, when about 1,500 boats packed bow-to-bow waited for calmer seas.

For the 6,000 fishermen of Porbanar, the revelation that one of their boats Kuber was used to mount the terror attack in Mumbai on November 26, that five of their men were killed by terrorists, has struck like a tornado that comes without a warning.

Somji Lodhani, a khalasi or a helper on a fishing boat, says, “In the past 17 years on fishing boats, I have never seen such fear and shock. Nobody wants to go out to the sea. Something brutal like this had never happened before. Boats have strayed on the other side before but the consequences have never been so disastrous.”

According to Excise and Custom Department officials, on December 1, only 134 fishing boats left Porbandar, a figure that is less than one-tenth of the usual. Also, 10 fishermen had come and temporarily suspended their Creek Pass that allows them to go out for fishing.

A Custom official said, “Normally, more than a 1,000 boats leave the harbour every day. Now, they are afraid to go out. The Coast Guard and the Navy have significantly stepped up the vigil. In fact, there was just a routine choppy seas warning on November 29 and 30, but hardly any trawler ventured out. Yesterday only a few did.”

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