Chennai: When Justin Antony, founder-president of International Fishermen Development Trust (INFIDET), which deals with welfare of fishermen and weather patterns in the sea in Kanyakumari district, was glancing through ‘windy’ app, he was surprised to notice a storm that could form in Arabian sea on October 6.
Worried, Justin, without a second thought, passed such information from Kanyakumari district administration to state fisheries department, following which Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) confirmed it and alerted the fishermen not to venture into the sea. Later, the district administration warned the fishermen to be cautious.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Justin recounted last year cyclone ‘Ockhi’, which ravaged Kanyakumari district with several fishermen, who involved in deep-sea fishing trapped and missed in the cyclone. “However, we do not want such thing to happen this year. I regularly check my ‘windy’ app. But, when I checked this app on Sunday, I felt something was amiss. When I keenly watched the weather pattern in the app, I noticed a storm, which can set in on October 6,” he said.
He knew that many fishermen had already gone for deep-sea fishing. “To save them, I alerted all the officials and IMD confirmed the same. My humble request is that the government should take measures on war-footing to rescue fishermen involved in deep-sea fishing,” Justin stressed. He did not want yet another disaster the district could witness.
“Officials should operate helicopters to locate fishermen and rescue them. Since fishermen have walkie-talkie, navy officials with life jackets should immediately conduct search operations,” he noted.
He also urged the government to set up a Marine Rescue Coordination Centre and National Disaster Management Centre in Kanyakumari for welfare of fishermen.
