Technology has come to the rescue of fishermen and their families from Andhra Pradesh, who are at the mercy of of the waves once they leave the shore. The fishing trips can last upto seven days during which time the fishermen are out of contact. In the event of a natural disaster such as a cyclone, officials of the Fisheries Department have no option but to undertake a door-to-door inquiry to track missing fishermen before launching search operations.
A simple, technology-driven ‘fishermen registration’ scheme now offers an accurate and immediate alternative to this time consuming and often inaccurate process. The pilot project, rolled out by the Reliance Foundation, operates through a toll-free telephone number.
Three-step process
The system requires just three steps to track the fishermen. First, owners of the registered fishing boats need to register their details with the Foundation. Once the registration is done, the owners need to call the toll-free number from their registered mobile number and submit details of the fishing trip undertaken by each boat such as the coast of departure and the number of fishermen on board by using an Interactive Voice Response System. Finally, once the boat returns, the same details are again submitted to the call centre registering the safe return of the craft and crew. “The voice response system is in Telugu and it is very easy to operate. More or less, it is similar to the process of booking an LPG cylinder over the phone. As we have been using mobile phones for quite some time, we learnt the process easily,” says 42-year-old Dooda Masenu, owner of a fibre boat from Gandhinagar hamlet in Uppada. The fisherman is also happy that he is not charged for the calls.
Easy to use
“Of late, we are forced to go deep into the sea for fishing and sometimes we are touching Kalingapatnam before returning to our shore. Earlier the trip used to be for three days, but now it is not less than seven days,” says Chokka Prasad, 39, of Naikar Colony in Uppada, another user of the new registry. “We also get information about the fish potential zones from the Reliance Foundation on our mobile phones, which helps to save time and avoid wasting labour and diesel on futile attempts,” he said. To register their boats, fishermen need to call the number 1800-419-8800 and to register their voyage details they call 1800-2700-268. “So far, we have registered the details of 4,500 boat owners from the East Godavari and the Yanam coasts. The fishermen are very prompt in calling us before venturing into the sea and after returning. Since our system will not allow the duplication of detail, we are sure the data available is 100 per cent accurate,” says Chittibabu Nagulapalli, senior manager at the Reliance Foundation. Following the success of the pilot project, the Fisheries Department is now planning to extend it to the entire coastal region.
