Bangladeshi Fishermen in Oman: Migration as a Gamble - Incite at Columbia University

In Oman, Bangladeshis are now the most important community of migrants among South Asians.

Among them are fishermen who represent a paradigmatic example of the difficult situation most low skilled workers have to face in the Gulf countries. Based on fieldworks in Hatiya, a small island of the Bay of Bengal from where these fishermen are originating, and in several harbours of Oman,

In this chapter from Asianization of Migrant Workers in the Gulf Countries, Percot intends to highlight the different mechanisms which make migration a very risky gamble for these men. From the recruitment process through local networks, the conditions of work and salaries, the unavoidable path to an irregular status and eventually the arrest and deportation of most of these workers, Percot proposes to show how, structurally, their migratory experience almost always leads to failure and increased poverty.