Fishing boats being fitted with distress alert transmitters

As many as 843 fishing boats in the East Godavari district are being fitted with distress alert transmitters, a satellite based-equipment to locate and transmit information in the case of natural calamities like floods and cyclones, district collector H Arun Kumar said at Kakinada today.
A single DAT set costs Rs 10,710 and it was being given free to the fishermen, he said.
A total of Rs 90.78 lakh would be spent for this purpose.
The collector also said that the fisheries department would release 2.80 crore fish seedlings into various reservoirs to increase the fish production and this would yield additional produce of 25 thousand tones.

Cage culture to promote Thilapia fish was also planned at Yeleru reservoir in the district, he added.
The collector also instructed the horticulture department officials to set up at least five banana ripening chambers in the district so as to stop the use of carbides for ripening.