Shiyalbet, an island of fishing families off the Jafrabad coast in Amreli district, is to get its first proper fish landing centre. The state cabinet gave in-principle approval on Wednesday, November 4, to a facility with a pile jetty, reclaimed ground, a stone bund, paved surfaces and electrical connections, government spokesperson Jitu Vaghani said after the meeting in Gandhinagar. No cost or completion date has been announced yet.
An island that parks its boats at sea
Shiyalbet has no road to the mainland. The Amreli district administration’s own listing describes it as reachable only by boat from Pipavav port, with Victor and Jafrabad ports the other crossing points. Because the island’s boats cannot simply be driven round to a mainland harbour, fishermen have been anchoring their craft in open water around the island and bringing catch ashore without a jetty, cold storage or an auction floor, Sandesh reported from the cabinet briefing.
The numbers the government put on the table show how much of the island’s economy runs through that improvised arrangement. Vaghani cited 154 boats, more than 1,100 active fishermen and annual landings of 4,611 tonnes, according to IANS, via Punjab Kesari. He gave the island’s population as about 2,680; the 2011 Census counted 5,096 residents, per a Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board island profile, so the cabinet figure may refer to the fishing community rather than everyone on the island. Fishing is the only livelihood on Shiyalbet in any case, which is why a landing site that lets boats tie up safely matters more here than at a mainland port with alternatives.
What a pile jetty and a stone bund change
A pile jetty gives boats a fixed berth to unload at regardless of tide, instead of ferrying catch ashore in smaller loads. The stone bund and reclamation create protected, usable ground behind it, and the paver blocks and power supply allow handling, storage, auction and loading for onward transport on one site. Vaghani’s stated expectations are less spoilage, an easier route for sending fish to distant markets and better earnings for the island’s fishing households, Sandesh and the Gujarati daily Akila reported.
Spoilage is the practical issue. Without ice and storage at the water’s edge, catch landed in the afternoon has to move the same day or lose value, and the boat crossing to Pipavav adds time before it reaches a trader. A landing centre with preservation facilities lets fishermen hold catch for a better price or a larger consignment.
Shiyalbet’s long wait for basic infrastructure
The island has a history of being last in line. It received grid electricity only in June 2016, through an undersea cable laid via the neighbouring Chanch island, and was described at the time as the last unelectrified pocket in Gujarat, DeshGujarat reported. In 2023 the state’s Island Development Authority shortlisted Shiyalbet alongside Bet Dwarka for tourism development, but the fishing infrastructure demand predates that plan.
One constraint will shape the detailed design: the GIDB profile places the island under Coastal Regulation Zone III rules with a no-development zone along the shore. Jetties and fishing-related structures are generally permitted in such zones, but the project will need coastal zone clearance before tenders can be issued, which is one reason an in-principle approval is only the first step.
What the approval does not yet say
Wednesday’s decision is a go-ahead to prepare the project, not a sanction of funds. The reports from the briefing, carried by Gujarat First among others, give no estimated cost, no implementing agency and no timeline. The next markers to look for are a Fisheries Department resolution with a budget figure, a coastal clearance application and a tender from the state’s fisheries or ports agencies. Until then, Shiyalbet’s 154 boats will keep anchoring where they always have.
Sources: IANS via Punjab Kesari, Sandesh, Akila News, Gujarat First, Amreli district administration, GIDB island profile, DeshGujarat
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.