Pakistan’s fishing vessels undertaking voyages from east to west coast are in search for a satellite-connected tracking system to evade capture on deep-sea by other countries maritime forces and make it easy to find the location of an accident-hit boat during search and rescue operation.
The high-cost tracking system, according to fishermen, is beyond their financial capacity to afford. “The government is not interested to set up an integrated tracking system installed at fishing vessels to ensure their safe return to moorage’s and in case of accident the location of a boat could be traced,” they said.
After failing to find support from the Sindh government in this connection, the fishermen have begun searching for other means and institutions to introduce a satellite-based monitoring system for fishing vessels, President Native Islanders Fishermen Association (Nifa), Asif Bhatti, told Business Recorder on Saturday. “The Nifa is now working jointly with JMICC and CPL to set up such a tracking system for its fishing boats that are voyaging across the seas from east to west coast,” he said, adding that some 10 boats have been selected for a trial to assess whether the system works.
During the experiment process, he said that a number of issues of the tracking system at sea has been encountered, of which the satellite connectivity in a range of the country’s maritime borders is dead to help locate the troubled vessel in case of accident. The tracking system is primarily aimed at helping the fishermen on board to identify the country’s border limits, besides communicating with the boat owners directly to provide details, he said, adding the active system can help rescue operations at sea effectively.
“At least 12 satellites are required for a direct connection to the tracking system that will cover Pakistan’s seas in all directions to its maritime limits. Unfortunately, none is active to support the under experiment system,” Bhatti said.
The range of GSM and GPRS tracking systems is just four kilometres on the sea as any vessel voyages beyond the limit remain untraced, he said, adding that the government has to help the fishermen acquire such satellite-based trackers to improve their fishing activities. At first, he said, the experiment is being monitored closely with a hope of its success, adding that the cost of the entire system and a mechanism to operate it would be decided later.
Business Recorder, 2014