Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

FISHNET portal for coastal States

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With coastal security and fishing vessel identification gaining new dimensions in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Union Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF) in association with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) is now mooting a proposal to roll out the FISHNET portal of the State Department of Fisheries to all coastal States in the country.

The Fisheries Information System Network (FISHNET) portal was first developed by NIC Kerala for the State Fisheries Department to facilitate computerised registration and licence issuing for fishing vessels. Kerala became the first State to introduce computerised registration and licence for fishing vessels in April 2008. The Rs.2-lakh e-governance project has now developed into a comprehensive fisheries database.

“The computerised registration and licence issuing, enabled by FISHNET, have been done as per the guidelines of Kerala Marine Fisheries Registration Act. With the FISHNET portal, information regarding fishing vessels and owners is just a fingertip away. So far we have received around 22,000 applications for vessel registration and licence, including mechanised and non-mechanised vessels. Of this 18,000 vessels have been issued registration certificates,” said Fisheries Department Director Sheikh Pareed.

The alphanumeric registration numbers of each vessel now acted as a key to all information regarding the vessel and its owner, he said.

Following the successful implementation of FISHNET in Kerala, the project is now proposed to be implemented in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Daman & Diu, Goa, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal. The portal is also expected to benefit Coastal Guards, Navy, State Marine Police, MPEDA, Mercantile Marine Department and the Bay of Bengal Programme.

“To discuss the national roll-out of the project, a workshop is being held at NIC Delhi on January 21st,” said NIC Kerala State informatics officer V.S. Raghunathan.

At the national level, FISHNET is proposed to be developed into a fisheries information hub where officials, scientists, researchers and beneficiaries can get ready access to the computer based databases.

The website will also have a database on fishing vessels and their movement in the seas besides database of crew and owner. The project also includes establishment of a network of fish landing centres throughout the coastal areas.

“We had given a presentation of the Kerala FISHNET portal to DADF officials in October 2008 and they said that the project could be emulated in other coastal districts of the State.

Now with the emphasis on security issues related with fishing vessels, the authorities are keen to implement it in other coastal States immediately,” said NIC project co-ordinator M. Kasthuri.

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