Fish is the most heavily traded food commodity and the fastest growing agricultural commodity in the World markets. As per the available statistics, in the year 2002, the global fish trade was US$58.2 billion, half of which was from the developing countries. As a comparative idea of volume of this trade, it exceeds the combined net export of rice, coffee, sugar and tea the world over.

Fishing in India has also been a significant source of revenue, both from the export and domestic consumption. There are about 35,000 registered mechanised boats and another 25,000 motorised boats, apart from a huge number, around 2,00,000, traditional boats engaged in fishing business in India. A number of institutions have also been promoted by the Government, such as State Fisheries Departments, Fisheries Research Institutions, e.g. Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Fisheries Colleges/Training Institutes, for supporting modernisation in fishing and providing training. Department of Ocean Development (DOD) and Department of Agriculture Cooperation of the Central Government have implemented programs to promote this industry.

The Government has implemented a system of providing regular weather forecasts and emergency messaging to fishermen in the coastal areas. Information about fish concentration in deep sea is also captured through satellite images by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), under the Department of Ocean Development (DOD) of Government of India and communicated to fishermen through the Electronic Display Boards (EDB) located along the coast.

2. An Integrated GPS & Radio Information System (IGRIS)

Current system of information dissemination is manual and time consuming. For example;

• The fishermen are required to go to their nearest post along the coast to collect information on large fish concentrations in their area of interest. There is no mechanism to deliver this information directly to the fishing vessels. Further, as the pattern of fish concentration changes over time, the same is difficult to communicate in real time to fishermen in deep sea.
  
• The weather warnings are provided through radio broadcast which are mostly local. Some of them use HAM radios; not all fishing vessels are equipped with this. The system does not deliver such information to fishing vessels directly while in deep sea.
  
• There is a need to improve system of distress reporting and providing relief in deep sea.

A system of Global Positioning (GPS) integrated with Radio has been suggested to address these limitations.

Towards this, INCOIS under DOD has supported the development of ‘An Integrated GPS & Radio Information System (IGRSI)’, by ASL Advanced Systems Private Limited (ASL).

The IGRIS comprises of following three components:

• A GPS position location-cum-vessel navigation system on-board the fishing vessels.
  
• A Communication interface with GPS navigation unit to enable arrive at new location of fish concentration, and pass information on weather data and warning on reaching closer to the international boundary. The communication is normally through a VHF radio, mostly available on fishing vessels for voice communication. The data channel on this radio is provided by integrating the radio modem.
  
• A Control Station ashore that runs an Application Software to enable transmit textual message on new target location of fish concentrations (received from INCOIS through an Internet connection) and weather warnings, to fishing vessels through the data communication link. The Control station also displays on its monitor the restricted zones for fishing, contours of fish concentration and depth areas, international borders, etc. The system will also feature data on various registered vessels.

A block diagram representing the overall system is shown in the Figure here. The system operates with the Control Station software communicating with the fishing vessels under its jurisdiction on VHF Radio. As an option, the position information on the fishing vessels may be retrieved in real time through data capture from the GPS position location/ navigation unit on-board the fishing vessels. Such information, in respect of all such fishing vessels under jurisdiction, may similarly be retrieved by the Control Station and displayed on its monitor.

3. Operational Features and Technical Specifications of the IGRIS

GPS Navigation Unit (ASL SeaGuide 2401)

General Features

• perating on Navstar Constellation of GPS Satellites
• Backlit LCD graphic display
• Storage of current position as a Waypoint
• Position in Latitude/Longitude
• Distance in Km, Nm, or Miles
• Speed in km/h, miles/h or Knots
• Creation and storage of up to 520 Waypoints, 26 Routes, with 20 Waypoints/ route
• Creation of Waypoints in terms of Range and Bearing, Current Position and any Waypoint
• Display of Range & Bearing of selected Way point, with respect to current position
• Display 20 nearest Way points/Fishing zones with respect to current position
• Message receive, display and acknowledgement
• Arrival and fault alarm indication
• Arrival radius for waypoints
• Sun rise/set, Moon rise/set time
• Simulation mode for self training
• Border warning in international waters

Navigation Features

• ‘Route’ & ‘GO TO’ navigation
• Direct to Fishing Zone or Home Navigation
• Five ‘Home’ options each with five character names
• Graphical course deviation indicator
• Retrace with track log
• Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA)
• Time To Go (TTG)
• Numerical value of Cross Track Error (XTE)
• Manual or Auto Leg switch over
• Electronic Compass

Communication Interface

A VHF Marine Radio will interface with SeaGuide

The software consists of the following modules

Fishing Vessel Registration Information Database

• Database will consist of vessel details with ADD, MODIFY, CANCEL, SAVE and DELETE options to facilitate addition and removal of vessels into/ from database
• Vessel details to be included in the database are Vessel ID, Registration Number, Vessel Type, Owner, etc.

Spatial Database

• The spatial database for the area (in electronic form) shall consist of Fishing Zones, restricted fishing zones, rocky areas, international borders, shallow areas, contours of different depth areas etc.

IGRIS Software

• Facility to send message concerning zones of fish concentration to fishing vessels
• Facility to send message about weather situation to fishing vessels
• Facility for message acknowledgement
• Facility to warn fishing vessels on approaching international boundary and other restricted areas
• Facility to receive distress messages with the current location of the vessels
• An optional feature of tracking fishing vessels to know their location through regular GPS reports