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Satellite-based device to

forecast natural calamities

of the sea to form severe cyclones. be made part of the dissemination
tehelka bureau Now finally, for seamless and effec- chain to deal with cyclones, high waves
tive dissemination of emergency infor- and tsunamis”. While PFZ Advisories
mation and communication on disas- provide information on the probable
early 100 Indian fisher- ter warnings, Potential Fishing Zones locations on fish aggregation in the
men went missing after a (PFZ) and Ocean States Forecasts (OSF) seas, OSF provide the accurate state of
powerful storm struck the to fishermen, the Government has the ocean.
country’s southern coast launched the Gagan Enabled Mariner’s The Minister pointed out that
N with Poonthura, a fishing Instrument for Navigation and Infor- “Ocean State Forecasts include the
village in the state of Kerala report- mation (GEMINI) device. forecasts on winds, waves, ocean cur-
ing a loss of 57 men at sea way back in According to Union Minister for rents, water temperature, etc. at every
December 2017. Earth Sciences, Science & Technology six hours on daily basis for next five
During 2018-19, 37 fishermen from and Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh days helping fishermen in maximizing
West Bengal lost their lives while fish- Vardhan “The satellite based communi- their earnings, ensuring safety and in
ing in the Bay with Sundarbans Delta cation is the only suitable solution for planning of fishing activities”.
region registering maximum num- the dissemination of such emergency Though the advisories and forecasts
ber of deaths of fishermen according information and affordable satellite are disseminated through multiple
to data from Kakdwip Fishermen’s based communication system should communication modes, none of them
Association, one of the largest fisher-
men unions in West Bengal.
Such unfortunate incidents bring
back the terrifying memories of the
tsunami in 2004 that devastated coasts
along the Indian Ocean. Whether it
points to the failure of the meteorologi-
cal department in informing very late
about the severity of the cyclones or ill
preparedness on the part of the state
governments, the end result is that
people have to suffer. You may blame
climate change or overexploitation of
marine resources as those responsible
for such like incidents, the fact remains
that no tangible solution has been
found so far as rising sea temperatures,
the severity of storms has increased
over the past decade.
The secretary of the fishermen’s
association at Kakdwip, Nikon Maity,
has reportedly pointed out that sever-
ity of cyclones has increased now. Sci-
entists too say that due to global warm-
ing, the ocean property is changing. The
sub-surface water temperature is more
than the surface water, leading to more
conservation of energy and the ability