Kerala: Cyclone Ockhi exposes chinks in armour

Kollam: If only Fisheries authorities had ensured mandatory lifesavers on mechanised boats, motorised craft and other artisanal craft that set out for fishing as Cyclone Ockhi barrelled into Kerala on November 29-30...Fishing vessels are mandated to keep lifebelts, jackets and buoys besides beacons while going into the deep sea. Tracking devices like safety beacons are helpful in alerting control rooms in times of danger. Boats’ coordinates can be determined using special tools. But authorities tend to be lax during verification, either because they can’t ensure proper verification or collude with big boat operators.  

The beacon is an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag, which is installed with the technical support of Keltron. The device tracks the vessel. Many fishermen refuse to take the beacon, priced at Rs 35,000 apiece. Mechanized vessel operators consider the knowledge of fishing ground their exclusive domain and keep the location secret if they get a good catch. Meanwhile, the Global Positioning System is still optional, and not mandatory, for all fishing boats to mark the latitude and longitude by marking fishing fields.

During Ockhi, fishermen were stranded after their connections snapped. “We had the GPS facility which lost its connection due to unknown reasons, maybe due to the saline water that rushed into these boats in the rough sea. Under GPS facility each area of catch is marked under specific number, say 004 for Thangasseri, towards which these boats head to,” Mr K. Nandakumar, a boat owner in Kollam, told DC. However, a higher official with the Fisheries department, when contacted, was still clueless about the GPS facility, which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on Wednesday at the Cabinet briefing.