Lok Sabha Question No. 661 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-20
Subject: Satellite Application for Weather Forecast
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: M. CHANDRAKASI

## 661.

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 661 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2016

## SATELLITE APPLICATION FOR WEATHER FORECAST

## SHRI M. CHANDRAKASI:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Union  Government  has  any  proposal  for  satellite  based application  for  advanced  and  accurate  weather  forecasting  for  the benefit of fishermen of the country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (b) the  details  regarding  new  initiatives  under  the  consideration  of  the Ministry to encourage and support fishermen of the country to make their life easy and earn more profits?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

(SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)

- (a-b) No Madam, there is no new proposal. Already for the benefit of fisherman community, a satellite based application for the fishermen community of the  country,  called  "Potential  Fishing  Zone  (PFZ)  Advisory  service  "  is operational  involving  Geographic  Information  System  (GIS)  tools  since 1999  with  locational  guidance  of  fish  grounds/aggregation.  In  addition, the Ocean State Forecast (OSF) (wave height and direction, wind speed and direction, ocean currents, sea surface temperature, depth of mixed layer and thermo cline, sea level at major and minor ports, etc.) is also being provided to fisherman on local marine weather conditions.

The  use  of  PFZ  information  helps  fishermen  community  in  reduction  of search time for fish resulting savings in the fuel cost.

As  per  National  Centre  for  Economic  Applied  research  (NCEAR)  report roughly  one  million  marine  fishermen  are  active  fishers  and  they  are benefited by Potential Fishing Zones (PFZ), Ocean State Forecast (OSF) Advisory  Services  of  Indian  National  Centre  for  Ocean  Information Services (INCOIS). Out of one million approximately 0.66 million people are involved in allied fishing activities such as marketing fish, processing fish etc. Across the one million coastal fishermen community, the annual value addition during post Potential Fishing Zone Advisory Services since 2004-05 is  assessed  at  Rs.  4700  crores.  GDP  contribution of PFZ and

Ocean State Forecasting services for the fishery sector is assessed  at 3.9 % in 2012-13 from 1.9% in 1995- 96 and can potentially increase to 7.8%. Accordingly, additional annual income to fishermen is aggregated at Rs. 3,034 crores. Environmental benefits accrue further as the saving due  to  reduction  in  overall  diesel  consumption  computed  as  carbon credits,  on  account  on  per  unit  catch  due  to  targeted  potential  fishing zone identification, aggregates annually to Rs. 36,200/- Crores. A wide range of advanced communication technology are employed for dissemination  of  the  information,  including  Electronic  Display  Boards installed at 100 fishing harbours/fish landing centers / fishing hamlets/fishermen cooperative societies, through telephones, Fax, Local Cable  TV  Networks,  Doordarshan,  All  India  Radio  (Thiruvananthapuram and Karwar), Community Radio's, FM Radio Stations (like Radio Benziger in Kollam, Radio Monsoon in Thiruvananthapuram, Kalpakkam Community  Radio,  Radio  Ala  in  Kakinada),  Local  News  Papers,  SMS, INCOIS  web  site,  email,  Interactive  Voice  Response  System  (IVRS), mobile applications viz. Fisher Friend Mobile Application (FFMA), mKRISHI,  In-house  developed  android  application,  Village  information Centres,  etc.  The  feedback  received  from  the  fishermen  suggests  that they  depend  on  Ocean  State  Forecast  for  planning  their  daily  fishing activities, where as PFZ helps saving the fuel and reduce search time.

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