Rohingya Refugees Earning a Meager Wage in the Fishing Industry

Alan Taylor
June 26, 2018
32 Photos
In Focus

In March, Clodagh Kilcoyne, a Reuters photographer, spent time in the Shamlapur refugee camp in Bangladesh, home to approximately 10,000 of the 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled the violence in neighboring Myanmar's Rakhine state. According to Kilcoyne, some of the refugees have now found work in the fishing industry, “earning a tiny daily income and occasional share of the catch, all under the official radar.” Unable to legally work in Bangladesh, refugees support themselves with help from charitable organizations, extended family, and informal jobs such as fishing. Even though the living conditions are harsh in the camps, several Rohingya refugees responded to Kilcyone’s questions with gratitude for where they were, and what that meant—safety from the violence that came for them in Myanmar.

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Rohingya refugees crew a fishing boat from Shamlapur Beach heading out to the Bay of Bengal near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on March 21, 2018. The boat is unstable in rough seas, due to its shape. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Rohingya refugee stands with tar on his arm after painting a fishing boat with a fresh coat on Shamlapur Beach in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on March 29, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugees walk towards fishing boats on Shamlapur Beach on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugees push a fishing boat from the sea onto Shamlapur Beach on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugees shake fish from nets on Shamplapur Beach on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Rohingya refugee picks up baskets of fish after buying them on the shore on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Jannat Ara (center), age five, smiles on Shamlapur Beach on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Rohingya refugee woman slices fish for drying while working at Nazirartek fish-drying yard near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on March 25, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Rohingya refugee woman walks through Nazirartek fish-drying yard, where she works, on March 23, 2018. The woman, who did not wish to be identified, escaped from Kutupalong refugee camp. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A bird flies past fishing boats at sunset on Shamplapur Beach on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Rohingya refugee sits on a cart used to pull fishing boats out of the surf on Shamlapur Beach on March 24, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugees leave Shamlapur Beach at night to return to camp with fish on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Rohingya refugee stands in Balukhali refugee camp at dawn, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on March 28, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Hasina Begum, 30, a Rohingya refugee, poses for a photograph at Nazirartek fish-drying yard in Cox's Bazar on March 23, 2018. "I was wounded by a sword to my face," said Begum, describing how she fled her home. "Then I lost consciousness and I was lying on the ground and some of my neighbors took me to the boat and we crossed the river to the Bangladesh border." Eventually she moved out of a refugee camp to take up the fish-drying work. "Yes, it's a better life, as I can work here with drying fish and I can earn money," she added. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugee girls line up at a food-distribution center at Jamtoli refugee camp in Cox's Bazar on March 29, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Chakma woman sits on Shamlapur Beach with buckets of tamarind to exchange for fish on March 24, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A malnourished Rohingya refugee child cries at a children's malnourishment center in Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar on March 28, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A bird pecks at dried fish at Nazirartek fish-drying yard on March 23, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Rohingya refugee works in the water at dawn beside fishing boats near Shamlapur Rohingya refugee camp on March 31, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Rohingya refugee walks past a fishing colony on Shamlapur Beach on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugees crew a fishing boat in the Bay of Bengal near Cox's Bazar on March 24, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugees push fishing nets along Shamlapur Beach on March 22, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A Rohingya refugee girl looks out from a school room in Shamlapur refugee camp on March 25, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugees crew a fishing boat in the Bay of Bengal on March 24, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugees approach a fishing boat that has arrived on shore on Shamlapur Beach on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Men push a fishing boat from the sea at Shamlapur Beach on March 24, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya refugee children stand on Shamlapur Beach after pushing fishing boats out to sea on March 24, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Rohingya men sort through fishing nets on Shamplapur Beach on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Bangladeshi men wheel a manta ray past Nazirartek fish-drying yard in Cox's Bazar on March 23, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Asma Akter, 10, a Rohingya refugee, lifts bags of frozen fish from a delivery truck at Nazirartek fish-drying yard on March 23, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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A man buys a bag of freshly caught fish at Shamlapur market in Cox's Bazar on March 26, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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Navigation lights shine on fishing boats on the shore near Shamlapur Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on March 21, 2018. #

Clodagh Kilcoyne / Reuters

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