The Tamil Nadu government in India has approved the project to set up a seamless communication radio network for fishing vessels. It is first of its kind in India and would be piloted in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. According to Elcot (Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu) appropriate technology has been identified before launching the project. It also said that both country (katamarans) and mechanised boats registered with the state fisheries department would be covered under this facility.
Officially Ramanathapuram has 4,620 registered katamarans and 1,697 mechanised boats. The government plans to implement the project in the district in the next three month. According to Elcot the facility would gradually cover all the registered vessels along the 1,076-km coast of the state at an outlay of Rs 7.7 crore. For the mechanised boats the device will be installed with the geographical positioning system whereas the country boats would be given a hand-held device.
It is informed that the government would charge Rs 7,500 each from the mechanised boat owners for providing this service, which is 50 per cent of the cost. For katamarans, the service has been fully subsidised. There would be communication towers along with control rooms installed at Thondi, Keezhakarai and Pamban to monitor the vessels within a radius of ten nautical miles. A chief control room would be established at Chennai to manage the whole project for better result.
