KOCHI: The Indian Coast Guard has red flagged the use of China-made automatic identification system (AIS), a tracking device made mandatory for fishing vessels, as it poses a security risk.
According to sources, the Coast Guard has written to the state Government to ensure that only the AIS sourced from authorised vendors and cleared by the security agencies are used in fishing boats. Based on the alert, the Fisheries Department has issued a directive that all fishing vessels should get the devices configured.
“A standard AIS costs around `50,000. The government provides the device to fishing boats at a subsidised rate. However, AIS manufactured in China is available for `5000 and `10,000. Each AIS will have a Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number with a country code. If the fishing boats install the Chinese gadget, the tracking system of the security agencies will identify it as a Chinese vessel on the basis of the country code,” said a Defence source.
The Navy and Coast Guard have been maintaining a tight vigil along the maritime borders of the country post the Easter Sunday terror attack in Sri Lanka, as there are intelligence reports of possible entry of terrorists through the porous coastline.
“Of late, there has been an increase in instances of Chinese vessels transgressing into India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which extends up to 200 nautical miles from the coast. As many boats have Chinese AIS, we often get confused between Indian boats and Chinese vessels. We should avoid this,” said a Defence officer.
The admission by the Coast Guard about the increase in the presence of Chinese vessels in India’s EEZ gives credence to the complaints raised by fishing boat operators that Chinese vessels were fishing illegally in Indian waters.“We have launched an awareness programme for fishing boat operators based on a direction from the government to configure the AIS and ensure that it bears an Indian MMSI number. As the Chinese AIS is cheaper, many boats have installed it. This will pose a risk during search and rescue operations also,” said Fisheries assistant director Joice Abraham.