Tamil Nadu: 2,000 danger zones marked along coast

CHENNAI: After encountering various problems including rocks, sunken ships and dead coral reefs Tamil Nadu fishermen have marked 2,000 danger zones along the coast of the state. More than 15,000 fishermen are using the Fisher Friend Mobile Application (FFMA) jointly developed by M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Qualcomm and TCS.  

Fishermen in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are using this mobile app to get information on real-time data on weather conditions, disaster alerts for the cyclone, tsunami and movement of fish shoals and the market price for different varieties of fish at various landing centres. They also using this app to mark the danger zones in their fishing area. “The fishermen have also been given the option to mark danger zones which have dead coral reef, rocks and sunken ships. These things can damage their boats and nets. They also were given the option to mark other different zones as well,” said S. Velvizhi, coordinator, Fisher Friend Programme, MSSRF, Chennai.

“Fishermen have identified dead coral reefs as one of the main causes for damage of their nets and boats,” she said. “But, we are yet to verify and validate the danger zones marked by the fishermen. We are currently in talks with the coast guard to carry out the scientific field study on these danger zones,” she added. These data can also be used for navigating coast guard ships and naval ships.

“In some instances, same area is being marked by many fishermen as a danger zone. So, we need to validate and confirm their markings,” she noted. Danger zone marking is made in participation with fishermen. “If the fishermen who use this mobile application mark an area as danger zone then our server will record the information with the reason and longitude, latitude details of that location,” she added. Many of the danger zones marked in regular fishing areas which are generally five nautical miles off the coast. “After the validation process, the area will be marked as dangerous and we plan to add an alarm for these areas in the next version of the mobile app. So, the fishermen can avoid these areas while fishing,” she explained.