CUTTACK: The fisheries department's plan to install transponders in mechanised fishing vessels and trawlers operating on the Odisha coast is delayed owing to no response to bids floated for procurement of the devices.
However, while informing this on affidavit Deputy Director Fisheries (Marine) Basanta Kumar Dash was hopeful that the process for procurement of transponders will be on track as certain terms and conditions in the tenders floated for the third time were relaxed for wider participation.
The plan is to install transponders in the fishing vessels to track them in the sea for protection of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles off the Odisha coast.A transponder (short for transmitter-responder) is an electronic device that produces a response when it receives a radio frequency interference.The Court was hearing on Tuesday a PIL it had registered suo motu on February 23 last year on the high mortality rate of Olive Ridley turtles off the Odisha coast.
Initially, the Court had constituted a committee to formulate measures for the protection of Olive Ridley turtles and their habitats. The panel had recommended use of transponders as there was an urgent need to track the trawling activities on a real time basis. This has been done in Tamil Nadu.
Dash stated in the affidavit that no bids were received to tenders issued on December 10, 2021 and April 18, 2022. Subsequently, fresh tender for procurement of transponders was floated on June 7.There are 1740 mechanised fishing vessels in the State. As per plan the State government is to procure transponders from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) empanelled vendors in two phases over a period of two years - 1000 in 2021-22 and the rest 740 in 2022-23.
The ISRO was requested by the State Fisheries department to integrate the Geo-fencing coordinates of fishing ban areas for the transponders to give an alert to fishing boats during their movement in the conserved areas.The installation of the Central Monitoring Unit process by ISRO is to be undertaken along with the procurement process.