CHENNAI: During this monsoon season, more than 25,000 fishermen in five southern states will get updated audio weather advisories with details like wind speed, wave height and status of the cyclone in their mobile phones from M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. After receiving the weather bulletin from the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), the ICT team at MSSRF will prepare short audio advisories in regional languages and send it to local fishermen daily.
Recently, fishermen from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha received audio advisories regarding the status of Kyant cyclone, which eventually weakened into a deep depression. "On normal days fishermen receive one audio advisory. During emergency, we can update the fishermen once in every six hours," said S. Velvizhi, coordinator, Fisher Friend Programme, MSSRF, Chennai. "In Tamil Nadu, there are 15,000 fishermen receiving our audio advisories. Based on requests from fishermen we send audio advisories at different time slots. But, many fishermen have preferred the afternoon time to receive these messages," she said.
Fishermen belonging 39 districts in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Puducherry and Kerala are registered to receive these mobile audio advisories. Earlier, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) used to send separate weather bulletins. “Now, they are sending integrated bulletin which has all the details like wind speed, wave heights and status of the cyclone," she said.
"Even if a fisherman misses the advisory, he can hear the message for the area by calling us back," she added. Fishermen can also call the helpline to clarify the audio messages or for real-time information. Currently, the audio advisories are issued in all the coastal districts in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh and some coastal districts in Kerala and Odisha. Apart from Ocean State Forecast MSSRF also give the information about the potential fishing zone and government schemes to the fishermen.
