The technology won a place in the prestigious National Contest on Social Innovation 2016, hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs along with NITI Ayog. The application was listed among the 20 top social innovations selected from a total of 774 applications, the release said. The CMFRI has already piloted this service in 56 fishermen societies in Maharashtra. According to V V Singh, Scientist-in-Charge of CMFRIs Mumbai Research Centre, the app is widely being used among the fishermen to plan their fishing activities. The information on the presence of potential fishing zone has helped fishers reduce unnecessary trips and the associated cost of diesel, ice and labour, he said adding that the app is beneficial to the fishermen to get to know the wind speed and direction, wave heights in a colour coded band helping them identify the unsafe regions in sea. “Fishermen are advised to go only when the information map on the app is blue in colour. The app will predict five days upfront forecast which will help even trawlers who go for multi-day fishing trips,” ingh said. He said lack of data signal availability in deep sea was a major challenge for the fishermen. “However, TCS and Tata Teleservices conducted a pilot to extend the mobile signal upto 30 km in the deep sea in Raigad district of Maharashtra. This helped the fishermen for price negotiation while they were in the sea itself and the fresh catch could be directed to desired port, optimising the overall transportation,” he added. The CMFRI in collaboration with TCS is planning to reach out to more fishermen societies under Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav (MGMG) initiative, the release said. The technology upscaling is planned by undertaking integrated efforts, it added.