Coast Guard issues guidelines for fishermen safety

Coast Guard Regional Headquarters (West), Mumbai has issued advisory regarding fishing boats, barges and coastal craft to the coastal states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Union territory of Lakshadweep.
This is keeping in view of fishing-ban period coming to an end today and vigour of Southwest monsoon season leading to continuous bad weather at sea, an official release said.
The Fisheries Authorities have been requested to complete inspection/survey of the fishing boats prior they venture into sea from August 1.
The focus areas of inspection includes boat colour-coding, seaworthiness, carrying life jackets/lifebuoys, Distress Alert Transmission System (DATS), VHF communication set, navigational lights, boat registration papers, fishing permit, fishermen authorised list, biometric/identity cards.

In addition, fishermen should be cautious of prevalent bad sea conditions, it added.
Coast Guard is also monitoring and issuing regular weather advisories to all fishermen by authorities concerned using radio & bulk SMS system, it said.

The fishermen have also been strictly advised not to employ children below the age of 14 years for fishing, as per GoI regulations.
As far as Maharashtra is concerned, the state has about 265 fishing villages along coastline of 720 kilometres and Creek line of about 1000 kms, with continental shelf spreading to 1.12 lakh sq kms.
As available records, there are a total 24,919 traditional and mechanised fishing boats, out of which 23,947 are registered in Maharashtra. Also, 100 per cent colour coding is completed on these registered boats.

Fishermen population in the state is reported 3,86,259 and 2,11,857 number of bio-metric identity cards have already been processed by fisheries department.
The authorities were also requested to institute measures to ensure timely and detailed inspection of inland water/coastal vessels, pleasure/private craft and merchant vessels as per regulations in vogue.
"Coast Guard ships and aircraft are maintaining constant vigil for meeting an untoward incidents at sea. In addition, we are also coordinating with all agencies to ensure safe and secure seas for all fisherman, merchantmen and other users of sea," the release said.