Poachers threaten world's most isolated tribe, the Sentinelese of Andamans

Poachers targeting rich fishing grounds in the Andaman Islands are endangering the world’s most isolated tribe. More than a hundred iIllegal fishermen from Burma have been arrested in recent weeks. Fourteen were fishing off North Sentinel Island, home to the Sentinelese tribe, who attack anyone approaching their island. Members of the tribe killed two fishermen in 2006.

Burmese and local Indian poachers also threaten the survival of the Jarawa tribe, who have only had contact with outsiders since 1998. An Indian poacher and a Jarawa man died in a conflict in the Jarawa’s reserve in 2008. The Indian Coast Guard has announced a series of arrests of more than a hundred Burmese poachers since late August, mostly in the vicinity of the Jarawa’s reserve. However, local Indian poachers are rarely targeted. Local sources say the scale of the problem is much greater than the recent arrests suggest, with most poachers going undetected.

Poachers catch turtles and dive for lucrative sea cucumber for the Chinese market, and also hunt in the Jarawa's forest. Local poachers often enter by the illegal road that cuts through the tribe's land. Survival International has repeatedly urged the local authorities to close the road, but it remains open.

Both the Jarawa and the Sentinelese are hunter-gatherers, and theft of the fish and animals in their territory endangers their food supply. Poachers also risk introducing common diseases. The Sentinelese are especially at risk: their complete isolation means they have no immunity to diseases such as flu and measles.

Since the coastal waters around the Jarawa reserve have been so heavily used by poachers, these illegal fishermen are now turning their attention to the waters surrounding North Sentinel.

Recent incidents and incursions

More than 100 Burmese poachers have been nabbed in the last one moth with as many as 29 apprehended on a single day (September 20) – 14 by INS (Indian National Ship) Battimalv and 15 by the Coast Guard vessel Aruna Asaf Ali.

INS Battimalv, while on a routine patrol off Ritchie’s Archipelago in the Northern Group of islands apprehended 14 Burmese poachers yesterday. On sighting the warship, the poachers attempted to flee. The boat was intercepted by INS Battimalv after a hot pursuit and the poachers were apprehended and brought onboard to be handed over to the police at Port Blair. INS Battimalv had to fire a warning shot. The poachers attempted to scuttle their boat when they realised that they could not outrun the warship.

The boat was equipped with deep sea diving and harvesting equipment as well as stocked with rations for prolonged offshore operations. The boat was carrying about 30 kg of sea cucumbers and 15 kg of octopus – both contraband items.

The Coast Guard ship Aruna Asaf Ali, while towing a boat seized earlier from Burmese poachers sighted a suspicious movement of a vessel near East Island in the night of September 20. The boat was approaching from Coco Island and heading towards the shallow waters of India. It was dark and the weather conditions were adverse. Even thought the ship was alreading towing another boat, it managed to chase the poachers and stop them from entering the creeks.

Threats to the islanders

"It is evident that this poaching of marine products is a big issue — with so many Burmese being apprehended in the span of just these few days. This has been happening for a very long time and it is welcome that the Coast Guard, police and other enforcement agencies are taking a proactive attitude in the matter," said Pankaj Sekhsaria, author of Troubled Islands (2003) and joint editor of the Kalpavriksh-UNESCO publication The Jarawa Tribal Reserve Dossier - Cultural and Biological Diversities in the Andaman Islands (2010).

Sekhsaria said, "It is also proof that the waters of the Andamans are rich and flourishing with diverse life which is why the Burmese continue to come from so far away — efforts need to be made to ensure better protection and conservation as well. I am also intrigued as to why these Burmese come such a long distance and undertake such risks (weather, high seas, enforcement agencies) - what are their conditions and situation that forces them into this?

Survival International campaigner Sophie Grig said, "The Indian coast guard’s recent crackdown shows they are taking the poaching problem seriously, but it also reveals the huge scale of the threat. The Jarawa and the Sentinelese have lived on the Andamans for about 55,000 years, but if this invasion of their territory continues, their days could be numbered."

Said Sekhsaria, "It is unlikely that with such riches, that people from the islands themselves are not illegally extracting these resources. We hardly ever get to hear of such arrests. It is also well known that Indians also enter the Jarawa territory from the west coast and there is the need for some protection/patrolling to prevent the violation of the Jarawa Tribal Reserve in this matter.

"It is important to note that 5 km of the sea from the HTL on the west coast of the Jarawa forests is also legally protected at Jarawa Tribal Reserve, but there has been no effort to protect this part of the sea either."

Incidentally, the neighbouring Bo tribe on the Andaman Islands became extinct in January this year with the death of its last surviving member, Boa Sr.

The Sentinelese

The Sentinelese live on their own small island, North Sentinel, and continue to resist all contact with outsiders, attacking anyone who comes near. They hit the headlines in the wake of the 2004 tsunami when a member of the tribe was photographed firing arrows at a helicopter. Like the Jarawa, the Sentinelese hunt and gather in the forest, and fish in the coastal waters. They live in long communal huts with several hearths, and use outrigger canoes to travel the seas around their island.

 

The Sentinelese tribe is thought to number between 50 and 200 people. Wreckage salvagers killed many in the late 1980s and early 1990s when they visited the island with guns to try to salvage iron and other goods from a shipwreck.

 

The Indian government has made several unsuccessful attempts to establish "friendly" contact with the Sentinelese. Contacting the tribe would almost certainly have tragic consequences, as their isolation makes them very vulnerable to diseases to which they have no immunity. The government now says it will make no further attempt to contact them.

 

The Jarawa

The ancestors of the Jarawa and the other tribes of the Andaman Islands are thought to have been part of the first successful human migrations out of Africa. Several hundred thousand Indian settlers now live on the islands, vastly outnumbering the tribes.

 

The Jarawa hunt pig and monitor lizard, fish with bows and arrows, and gather seeds, berries and honey. They are nomadic, living in bands of 40-50 people. In 1998, some Jarawa started coming out of their forest to visit nearby towns and settlements for the first time.

 

The principal threat to the Jarawa’s existence comes from encroachment onto their land, which was sparked by the building of a highway through their forest in the 1970s. The road brings settlers, poachers and loggers into the heart of their land.

 

This encroachment risks exposing the Jarawa to diseases to which they have no immunity, and creating a dependency on outsiders. Poachers steal the game the Jarawa rely on, and there are reports of sexual exploitation of Jarawa women.

 

Tourism is also a threat to the Jarawa, with tour operators driving tourists along the road through the reserve every day in the hope of ‘spotting’ members of the tribe. Despite prohibitions, tourists often stop to make contact with the Jarawa. A luxury tourist resort has been opened near the Jarawa reserve by the Indian travel company Barefoot, which will expose the tribe to further contact with outsiders.