Fisheries department, here, has increased vigil off the coast with the onset of monsoon. Coastal and sea surveillance for rescue operations are part of the sea safety drive of the department. According to the statistics available with the fisheries department, over 700 mechanised fishing vessels, nearly 200 motorised traditional crafts and over 7,000 non-motorised traditional crafts are involved in fishing along coastline of Kozhikode. The total coast length is 71km. Sea safety and rescue operations will be coordinated at the Beypore Fisheries Station. Besides, marine enforcement and fisheries officials will lead rescue operations from Beypore, Puthiyappa, Koyilandy and Chombala harbour. “We have hired three large fishing vessels and one traditional craft for carrying out rescue operations in the rough sea,” said Anil Kumar, assistant director fisheries. The larger vessels will station at Beypore, Puthiyappa and Koyilandy and the country boat will station at Chombal to carry out rescue, he added. The officials have hired heavy and large fishing vessels for sea rescue as speed boats are not suitable for operations in rough sea. The fisheries officials have also deployed the personnel with the marine enforcement squad at all four harbours to coordinate rescue operations. The 11 member squad is led by a circle inspector and a sub-inspector. The department will also hire rescue guards to fight staff shortage. The move is to hire 16 rescue guards and four each will be deployed at the four harbours in the district. Persons having prior experience in sea rescue operations and those who have completed special training in rescue operations in the sea will be selected as rescue guards. Fisheries department has also opened a round-the-clock ‘Sea Safety’ control room at Beypore fisheries station to coordinate rescue operations during monsoon. Fishermen can contact the control room by dialling 0495-2414074. Special directions are given to owners of fishing vessels to maintain a register of the fishermen working in their boats and the direction in which the vessel move on every particular day. “We will also make arrangements to inform the fishermen of alerts related to climatic changes. Information received from meteorological department will be passed on to the fishermen through announcement, notice board and using other modes of communications,” said the assistant director of fisheries. The fisheries department will also coordinate with coast guard and coastal police for carrying out rescue operations. Apart from fisheries, a control room will be opened at Beypore Port from June 1 for sea rescue operations. People in the vessels can contact the control room through VHF Channel 16.
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