Today fishermen at Perikalapet, near Pondicherry can drag their boat into the Bay of Bengal without the fear of encountering an unexpected storm. Thanks to MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), which came up with a solution for allaying the apprehensions of the fishermen who venture into the restless sea.

The fishermen can now navigate into the sea with complete know-how as to how high or low the waves will be, whether there will be any tricky currents and, above all, the potential zones of fish aggregation. This is part of the Info Village project started by MSSRF, which connects 10 villages near Pondicherry by hybrid-wired and wireless network consisting of PCs, telephones, VHF duplex radio devices, and email connectivity through dial-up telephone lines that facilitate both voice and data transfer. This has enabled the villagers to get information that they need, and use it to improve their lot.

The Info Villages uses two technologies, VHF and spread spectrum, to establish connection between the knowledge centers, which are small hubs housing wireless sets fitted computers. The villagers use these centers to access required information through the Internet.

Info Village is a fusion of traditional and modern technologies, especially when it comes to transmitting information to the fishermen. MSSRF downloads the images of the waves and wind direction from the US Navy website, cuts it to the Pondicherry part and makes the announcements using public announcement systems.

This was a pilot project running in Veerampattinam and Nallavadu, both coastal villages with 98 percent of the families involved in fishing. "We have now adopted a third village, Perikalapet, to disseminate the required information for the population of this place using ICT. Initially, we used to paste the weather report at every knowledge center. But since fishermen ventured into the sea late at night, we made use of the loudspeakers to keep them updated about the sea reports," said S Senthilkumaran, associate director (informatics division), MSSRF.

Besides, in association with Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), MSSRF has also set up an electronic board in Veerampatinam. The board will inform fishermen about oceanic fronts, meandering patterns, eddies, rings, and up-welling areas that are proven to be prospective areas for fish aggregation. The information from electronic board placed in Veerampatinam is wirelessly transformed to Nallavadu, using the spread spectrum technology.

Nisha Kurian / CyberMedia News