Lok Sabha Question No. 1453 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-12
Subject: Weather Forecasts to Fishermen
Ministry: FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING
Asked by: Andimuthu Raja, A. Ganeshamurthi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1453 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12 TH  DECEMBER, 2023

## Weather Forecasts to Fishermen

## 1453. SHRI A. RAJA: SHRI A. GANESHAMURTHI:

## Will the Minister of FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING मत्स्यपालन , पशुपालन और डेयरी मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a)     whether the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has recently launched mega awareness campaign on ocean information and advisory services for the benefit of small and marginal fishermen in the country;
- (b)      if so, the details thereof;
- (c)     the details of the initiatives taken by the Government for providing dynamic information on ocean State forecasts and weather forecasts to fishermen to help them make informed decisions while venturing into sea; and
- (d)     whether any App has been developed for this purpose to make the livelihoods of this community better and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF FISHERIES, ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING

## (SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)

- (a) and (b): Yes, Sir. In order to take the benefits of the scientific services to the users through enhancing  the  awareness  and  penetration  of  the  ocean  information  and  advisory  services, INCOIS has conducted 05 mega awareness campaigns along coastal states of India as well as village level workshops. The mega awareness campaigns on Ocean Information and Advisory Services were conducted at Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh; Veraval in Gujarat; Mumbai in Maharashtra; Digha in West Bengal; and Chennai in Tamil Nadu during July- August, 2023. The  Mega  awareness  campaigns  were  conducted  with  state  Fisheries  Departments,  NGOs, related fishery organizations, etc. and catered for the benefit of small and marginal fishermen community for their livelihood and safety. All mega awareness programs had the participation of 200-800 fishermen for each campaign. Eight village level workshops were also conducted during  January  -  March,  2023  at  Neendakara,  Chettuva,  Munambam  in  Kerala,  Murad  in Maharashtra, Karaikal in Puducherry and Tuticorin, Poompuhar, Keelakarai in Tamil Nadu.
- (c):    INCOIS has taken up many scientific initiatives to improve the accuracy of ocean state forecasts such  as  operationalization  of  high-resolution  Operational  Ocean  Forecast  and  Reanalysis System for Indian Ocean, HYCOM-HWRF coupled model for cyclone forecasts, Multi-grid Wavewatch-III  for  wave  modelling  and  introduced  data  assimilation  and  multi  ensemble forecasting.

The Ocean State Forecast (OSF) services consists of dynamic information on Wave height, direction, and period (of both wind waves and swell waves), Sea surface currents, astronomical tides, wind speed and direction for next 5 to 7 days. The High Wave/Swell information provides alerts / warnings to the fishermen community thereby helping them in taking informed decisions before venturing into sea. The warning on storm surge and related inundation associated with the cyclones are also issued. Wave surges and rough sea conditions associated with the effect of high period swell waves approaching from southern Indian Ocean and its chances of flooding the coastal regions also are warned.

INCOIS has further customized the OSF services and initiated 'Small Vessel Advisory Services (SVAS)' that provides boat-specific safety information for fishermen thereby helping them in avoiding  the  regions  that  cause  capsizing  of  the  boats.  This  information  is  provided  to  the fishermen  community  through  multiple  dissemination  platforms  such  as  e-mail,  website, mobile  application,  WhatsApp,  telegram  channel,  mobile  applications,  multilingual  SMS messages, etc. to ensure the timely availability of the information. In addition, partnered with NGOs for further downstream dissemination of the information to all fishermen community.

Department  of  Fisheries,  Ministry  of  Fisheries,  Animal  Husbandry  &  Dairying,  under  its flagship scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY)' provides the financial assistance to support the fishermen for potential fishing zone (PFZ) devices, communication and  tracking  devices  like  VHF/DAT/NAVIC  etc.  Besides,  a  National  Rollout  Plan  for installation of transponders in 1,00,000 fishing boats has also been approved under PMMSY with total outlay of Rs. 364.0 Crore. The transponders are two-way communication, support and monitoring devices developed by ISRO with 100% Indigenous R & D efforts using GSAT -6 Satellite to provide warnings & message dissemination including cyclone warning, weather alerts, location of International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), High Tide alert, PFZ, text messaging, geofence violation monitoring etc. to the fishermen.

- (d):    The INCOIS launched a mobile application known as 'SAMUDRA' (Smart Access to Marine Users for ocean Data Resources and Advisories) for comprehensive information on all ocean related services, useful for both seafarers and the fishing community. The mobile app empowers users with real-time updates and critical alerts on oceanic disasters such as tsunamis, storm surges, high waves, swell surge alerts, etc.