After wake-up call, fishers launch register to track boats
KOCHI: Cyclone Ockhi has exposed the chinks in Kerala’s disaster preparedness and with no clue about the number of missing men and vessels, the fishermen have learnt a hard lesson. The cyclone has served as a wake-up call for the fishermen at the Kochi harbour and on the new year day, they launched a system to keep track of the boats and fishermen venturing into the sea henceforth.
“A month has passed since cyclone Ockhi struck the Kerala coast and around 150 fishermen are still missing. We should be ready to conduct rescue operations in case of emergency. Keeping this in mind, we have opened a register where details of each boat and fisherman who venture into the sea will be entered. Around 600 fishing boats set off from Kochi on Monday morning for deep sea fishing. We have entered all the details including the distance they will travel and area where they will be fishing. The entry will be stored in a computer so the details can be accessed easily,” said Charles George, president of the Kerala Matsya Thozhilali Aikyavedi (KMTA).
Though the state government had announced plans to have its own register, the initiative by KMTA is unique and will complement the government’s efforts. “When Ockhi hit, we didn’t have an idea of the number of boats and fishermen who had set off for fishing. The new system will make rescue operation easy,” he said.
The system is being introduced in coordination with the Coastal Police, Fisheries Department and various government agencies. Apart from this, the Aikyavedi will demand the government, the utilisation of Navic, the autonomous regional satellite navigation system of India, to provide accurate real-time positioning and timing services to the fishermen.