Fishermen Accident Relief Scheme

What is the Fishermen Accident Relief Scheme?

The Fishermen Accident Relief Scheme is a state relief grant of the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department, Government of Gujarat, implemented through the Commissioner of Fisheries. Gujarat has the longest coastline of any Indian state, and the scheme exists because fishing there carries three distinct fatal risks: accidents on board and at sea, disappearance where a body is never recovered, and detention by Pakistani authorities in the disputed waters off the Kutch coast.

The Gujarat fisheries department lists the scheme in Gujarati as "માછીમાર અકસ્માત સહાય યોજના" among the welfare schemes on the fisheries commissioner's portal, alongside the separate Fishermen Group Accident Insurance Scheme, the diesel VAT relief scheme and the kerosene assistance scheme.

Key features

• A one-time relief grant, not an insurance policy with a premium.
• Covers three distinct events; accidental death while fishing, disappearance at sea, and death in a Pakistani jail.
• No income limit for individuals or families, and open to all genders.
• Offline claim at the district fisheries office; an application on plain paper is accepted.
• Paid to the legal heirs of the fisherman.

How much does the Fishermen Accident Relief Scheme pay?

Separately from the death grant, the Gujarat fisheries department pays Rs 9,000 per month to the family of a fisherman who has been arrested and jailed in Pakistan, continuing until the fisherman is repatriated. That monthly support and the Rs 4,00,000 death grant are the two limbs of the state's response to the arrest problem, which is a recurring one: Gujarat has repeatedly told its Assembly that scores of its fishermen are held in Pakistani jails at any given time.

The relief is a fixed grant. It does not reimburse funeral costs, boat damage or medical bills, and it is not calculated on the fisherman's earnings.

Who is eligible for the Fishermen Accident Relief Scheme?

A family can claim if:

• The deceased or missing person was a fisherman of Gujarat, working in the state's coastal districts or on a vessel registered there.
• The person died in an accident while fishing, went missing at sea during fishing, or died while imprisoned in Pakistan.
• The claimant is a legal heir, spouse, child or parent, of that person.
• Documentation exists linking the person to fishing: a boat registration, fishing licence, crew record, biometric fisherman card or cooperative society membership.

There is no income limit for individuals or families under this scheme, and it applies without restriction on gender.

A family cannot apply, or is not eligible, if:

• The person was not engaged in fishing at the time of the incident. A death on land unconnected with fishing work is outside the scheme.
• The death was due to illness or natural causes rather than an accident.
• No police, coast guard or official record of the accident, disappearance or detention exists.
• The person was a fisherman of another state without a Gujarat vessel or district registration.
• The claimant is not an established legal heir of the deceased.
• Relief for the same incident has already been sanctioned to another heir.

What documents are required?

In a disappearance-at-sea case there will be no body and no death certificate. The police missing report, the vessel owner's statement and the coast guard record together take its place, and the district fisheries office advises families on the substitute set.

How to apply for the Fishermen Accident Relief Scheme

1. Report the incident immediately to the police station of the landing harbour and to the district fisheries office. For a disappearance at sea, get the missing report registered without waiting for the search to end.
2. Collect the incident record — the FIR and panchnama for an accident, or the missing report and coast guard record for a disappearance. For a death in a Pakistani jail, the confirmation is routed to the family through the district administration.
3. Gather the fishing-link documents: the boat registration certificate, fishing licence, crew list, biometric fisherman card or the fisheries cooperative society's membership record.
4. Obtain the heirship certificate from the competent revenue authority, and the death certificate from the Talati-cum-Mantri or municipality where a body has been recovered.
5. Write the application. The scheme accepts an application on plain paper: setting out the fisherman's name, village, boat details, date and nature of the incident, and the claimant's relationship and bank details.
6. Submit the application with all annexures to the district fisheries office of the Commissioner of Fisheries, and obtain a dated acknowledgement.
7. Follow up in writing. Note the file number, and pursue it with the district fisheries office and, if it stalls, with the Commissioner of Fisheries in Gandhinagar.

There is no online self-service application. The fisheries commissioner's portal at cof.gujarat.gov.in lists the department's marine, brackish water, inland and welfare schemes and district office contacts, but the relief claim itself is filed at the district office.

How to follow up on a fishermen's relief claim

1. Keep the dated acknowledgement from the district fisheries office. It is the only proof of the filing date.
2. Ask the district office for the file number and the date the file was forwarded to the Commissioner of Fisheries.
3. Contact the Commissioner of Fisheries office, 3rd Floor, Block No. 10, Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Gandhinagar, on 079-23253749, quoting the file number.
4. Escalate to the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department if the file remains unmoved.

Delay is a real risk in this sector. Reporting compiled by fisheries-sector researchers has recorded that of 11 claims filed in Gujarat over a three-year period under the central Group Accident Insurance cover, none had been settled, with cumbersome documentation cited as the cause. Families should therefore treat document completeness and written follow-up as the practical core of the claim.

Common reasons fishermen's relief claims stall

• No police or coast guard record of the incident, so the accidental cause is unproved.
• No document linking the person to fishing; no boat registration, no crew record, no cooperative membership.
• Heirship not settled among survivors, leaving the office unable to decide who should be paid.
• Bank account name mismatched with the Aadhaar name of the heir.
• Incomplete disappearance documentation, where a family waits for a death certificate that will never be issued instead of filing the missing report.
• Confusion with the central insurance scheme. The state relief grant and the PMMSY Group Accident Insurance Scheme are separate; filing under one does not file under the other.

What else Gujarat fishermen can claim

The Commissioner of Fisheries also runs a Fishermen Group Accident Insurance Scheme, and Gujarat fishermen are covered by the central Group Accident Insurance Scheme (GAIS) delivered through Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana. The National Fisheries Development Board records GAIS cover as Rs 5,00,000 for accidental death or permanent total disability, Rs 2,50,000 for permanent partial disability, and up to Rs 25,000 towards hospitalisation after an accident. Families should ask the district fisheries office to check both the state relief grant and the insurance cover, because the two are independent of each other.

Where to raise a grievance

• Commissioner of Fisheries, Gujarat: 3rd Floor, Block No. 10, Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Gandhinagar. Phone 079-23253749, email marin-fish-gnr@gujarat.gov.in.
• District fisheries office of your coastal district, for filing and verification issues.
• Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Cooperation Department, for policy matters.

No fee is charged for this relief. The application can be written on plain paper, and no agent or middleman has a role in getting it sanctioned.