Control room set up for weather warning: State Fisheries Minister

“Technology has grown, enabling fishermen to fish at 200 nautical miles off the coast and carry activity for around a month. While they are at sea, there might be a cyclone warning issued and at that time, information should be passed on to the fishermen. The integrated control room will establish communication with the fishermen and will pass on the information so that they will return to the coast, thereby reducing the event of loss of lives,” said State Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar after inaugurating the centre in the city.

The Minister also said that for the purpose, fishermen are provided with 5 watt- and 25 watt-walkie talkie devices to communicate when they are at sea.

For the first time in the country, the fishermen carrying activities in deep sea have formed as a group, comprising of around 60 boats, and for every group, two satellite phones have been given, enabling them to communicate in the time of distress, the Minister said.

Apart from the devices, NavIC and Distress Alert Transmitters (DAT) are fixed in every boat so that communication is given to the control room during the time of distress, the Minister added.