CHENNAI: With the northeast monsoon fast approaching, Tamil Nadu Fisheries department has undertaken a massive preparedness exercise with a key focus on ensuring the safety of fishermen at sea. In the last one month, authorities have inspected all the 4,806 registered deep sea fishing vessels to check if they have adequate life buoys and communication equipment fitted on board.
GS Sameeran, Director of Fisheries, told Express that show cause notices were issued to a few vessel owners, and fishing tokens were suspended for some vessels due to non-compliance. “They later rectified the shortcomings,” he said.
Tamil Nadu has one of the longest coastlines in the country measuring a spread of 1,076 km across 13 districts. There are 608 coastal villages with 10.29 lakh population. The annual marine fish catch is approximately 5.13 lakh tonnes and marine products exports 1.17 lakh tonnes generating a revenue of over Rs 5,400 crore. Apart from deep sea fishing vessels, there are 33,219 motorised non mechanical boats and 5,928 country crafts.
After the nightmarish experience during the cyclonic storm Ockhi in 2017, which rendered nearly 200 fishermen untraceable and eventually construed dead, the State government began investing heavily on building infrastructure and communication network for the safety of fishermen. Today, Sameeran said, 17,539 boats (country crafts and non-mechanised) are equipped with Very High Frequency (VHF) radio sets with a reach of up to 50 nautical miles from the shore.
To address the concerns of deep sea fishing vessels, 660 satellite phones, 200 NavIC message receivers, developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and 80 NAVTEX devices have been distributed to 80 clusters. Each cluster is a group of 15-20 vessels having a minimum of 100 fishermen. Besides, 507 transponders, developed by ISRO, were distributed on a pilot basis. “We have placed an order for additional 5,000 transponders this year. But, due to Covid, the production took a hit and the delivery is pushed to March. These will come in handy during next monsoon season.
This apart, we have Thoondil mobile application, which was developed with assistance from National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) with 20,000 active users. This has features like navigation system, tuna advisory data, weather/cyclone info, rescue plan etc,” the official said.
There has been zero loss of life at sea from 2018 despite 14 cyclones forming in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea in the last two years. Sameeran said the department has ensured proper maintenance of all communication networks. A State-level control room and 15 district-level control rooms have been operationalised to face any eventuality. “The southwest monsoon has been vigorous triggering floods in many parts of the country. We are anticipating severe storms during the northeast monsoon as well. So, we are preparing for the worst case scenario.”
Depression forming in Bay of Bengal
Chennai: North Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, will witness an increase in rainfall under the influence of a depression forming in Bay of Bengal. The well-marked low pressure area is likely to move northwestwards towards West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts and concentrate into a depression and further into deep depression during the next 2-3 days. In the process, it would trigger intense thunderstorm activity over North Tamil Nadu. Warning of heavy rainfall was issued for Salem, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruvallur and Tirupattur districts. The meteorological office said the sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy in Chennai. “Thunderstorm with light to moderate rain is likely to occur in some areas.”