PHOTOS: The precarious life of fisherfolk | WNYC

Workers at Chennai’s Kasimedu harbor face punishing conditions tied to an auction that starts at 4 a.m. One “basket man,” Pavadairayan, 60, works from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. in near darkness, hauling fish baskets of about 35 pounds from boats to the auction house. The route is roughly a third of a mile each way, and he makes the trip 40 or 50 times per shift over wet, slippery paths covered in fish scales. He says supervisors can dock pay and fine workers thousands of rupees if fish go missing, despite earnings of about $5 a day. The piece also recounts fisherman Nandu Kumar, who turned to smuggling in the early 1980s and later returned to fishing after reforms, followed by family tragedies.