Fishermen should always be in possession of their identity cards, licence and other documents while venturing into sea for ensuring safety to their life and property, said Commandant G. Venu Madhav, Commanding Officer, Hovercraft, Coast Guard, here on Sunday.
Addressing fishermen at a campaign on ‘sea safety' organised jointly by the Indian Coast Guard Region (East), the Coastal Security Group and the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation at South Pudukudi, a coastal village near Kottaipatinam, Com. Madhav said the Indian Coast Guard is responsible for the safety and security to the life and property of fishermen. He advised fishermen to set out into the sea in groups to tackle any emergency situation. He appealed to the fishermen to keep a vigil on unfamiliar persons fishing in their boats and to ensure the licence number of boats are boldly painted.
R. Rajkumar, project co-ordinator, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Pudukottai, said that the Foundation and the Coast Guard had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on creating awareness of coastal security among fishermen in the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu.
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The Foundation has adopted five villages Therkku Pudukudi, Kattumavadi, Kandanivayal, Therkku Ammapattinam and Prathabiramapattinam in Pudukottai district besides Sethubavasamuthiram in Thanjavur district.
The Foundation would collect marine based data such as the direction of the wind.