Gujarat, Maharashtra fishermen lead in installing space-tech transponders

NEW DELHI: Gujarat and Maharashtra have taken the lead among 13 coastal states and Union Territories in installing indigenous transponders, a tracking device guided by space technology, in marine fishing vessels.

The devices are being used for transmitting real-time weather alerts and disaster warnings such as cyclones, monitoring, control and surveillance. The effectiveness of the high-tech transponders in saving lives and properties of thousands of fishermen was proved successfully when it guided 686 marine fishing vessels of Tamil Nadu back to safe harbour during two well-marked low-pressure systems early this week. Disaster management authorities are now confident of saving lives of fishermen during any future cyclonic events, including the upcoming one - cyclone named 'Montha' - that is predicted to hit Andhra Pradesh coast on Oct 28. Its first successful test-case in a limited way was, however, in Odisha where the alerts sent through the transponders had saved the lives of many fishermen who were out in the high seas during Cyclone Dana in Oct last year.

More than 41,700 transponders have been installed in marine vessels across all coastal states/UTs ever since the installation began in Aug last year with Gujarat installing the highest number at 15,486 followed by Maharashtra (8,773), Tamil Nadu (3,884), Karnataka (3,773), Andhra Pradesh (3,490), Odisha (1,707) and Kerala (1,551) as on Oct 24. Govt is supplying these devices free of cost to the fishermen with a 60: 40 funding pattern between Centre and states, and 100% central share for UTs. "The transponders, developed by ISRO using its vessel communication and support system (VCSS) and operationalised by NewSpace India Ltd, are also quite critical from a security point of view as they can track routes of fishing vessels, enabling fishermen to understand the limits of legal fishing areas clearly. In case of any suspicious activities, the security agencies will be able to inspect the vessels," said an official. It's a two-way communication system enabling fishermen to send short messages using their phone while fishing up to 200 nautical miles from the coast covering entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). In case the fishermen cross Maritime Boundary Line, alerts are sent to avoid unintentional transgression. Information related to Potential Fishing Zones is also made available on their mobiles.