While the Union Government is going ahead to implement space technology for development of the fisheries sector in the country, the State Government has been asked to make fishermen aware about the new technology to be adopted by them for more productivity and profit.
The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (ADF) of Government of India has asked the State Government to cover more and more fishermen and make them aware about the facilities.
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) under the Ministry of Earth Science has been implementing the programme, which is covering areas like dissemination of information on Potential Fishing Zones (PFZ) to marine fishers, weather assessment, forecasting and forewarning and real time monitoring and tracking of fishing vessels.
However, the present coverage is 70,000 fishers and 587 fish landing centres; so the ADF has asked for widening the coverage both in terms of fishers and fish landing centres, for which there is a need for coordination, convergence and synergy to bridge the gaps.
In fact, the Odisha Government has taken a lead in using technology for development the fishery sector due to initiatives by Fisheries and ARD Secretary Bishnupada Sethi. At least three lakh fishermen have been provided SIM cards, and messages are being sent through mobile advisory services.
About three lakh fishermen have been identified for issuance of biometric identity (ID) cards and 1.50 lakh fishermen given ID cards and 1.20 lakh cards are under process of distribution.
There are electronic display boards at 20 fish landing centres for dissemination of potential fishing zone information, said Director of Fisheries P Krishna Mohan. All the fishing boats have been registered under the ReAlCraft system.
The Odisha Fisheries has joined hands with the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation for satellite-based communications and for giving smart phones to fishermen. Dissemination of information in local language would be shortly ready, said sources.
Union Secretary of DAF Ashok Kumar Angurana has also asked the coastal States including Odisha to organise State-level brainstorming workshops to promote use of space technology and its applications in fisheries.