Ahead of cyclone season, TN fishermen get central control room
A central control room has been set up for fishermen venturing out to sea in Tamil Nadu even as the northeast monsoon has descended over the state. With heavy rains lashing parts of the state, fishermen have been receiving advisories over the past few weeks not to venture into the sea. In order to enable the timely rescue of fishermen in distress, a central control room has been established at the Directorate of Fisheries, Chennai.
According to officials, the control room has been equipped with communication equipment like 5w, 25w Very High Frequency (VHF) sets and satellite phones in order to facilitate coordination with control rooms in coastal districts as well as fishermen at sea during crisis. In addition to this, the control will receive and relay weather warnings from the Regional Meteorological Centre to the coastal Assistant Director of Fisheries to take precautionary and mitigation measures. During the monsoon, the control room will be in operation round-the-clock.
The has also emphasised the usage of 'Thoondil', a mobile and webGIS (Geographical Information Systems)-based application to dispense real time navigation records. The app reportedly allows fishing crews to update entry and exit information in order to keep the Fisheries Department aware of their whereabouts in the sea. The system's coverage is up to 7- 12 nautical miles. Similarly, the VHF sets also have a limited nautical range.
Speaking to TNM, Father Churchill, General Secretary of the South Asia Fishermen Association says that the control room is welcome but the government should provide satellite phones to all fishermen in able to really enable coordination with control rooms. “While these landed facilities are welcome, fishermen travel deep into the sea on a regular basis. When deep sea fishing takes place at 200- 300 nautical miles off the coast, how will they communicate distress signals? All fishermen should be given satellite phones so the messages from the control rooms can actually reach us. Otherwise, they will have to find us in order to communicate,” he says.