By Pabodha Hettige
The National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) will introduce a new system to enable fishermen to track fish in the deep sea. NARA Research officer Jagath Rajapaksha said that satellite data will be used to assist the fishermen.
"A programme will be implemented to transmit data captured by the satellites to the fishermen, especially of trawlers with the use of single side band radio transmissions," he said.
The data would also be transferred to the main fisheries harbours countrywide for the benefit of the small scale fishermen. A boom in the industry is expected through this system, he said.
The new system would double the catch, reduce the search time of fishermen and quality fish could be provided for the consumers, he said.
The NARA also expects to prevent the local fishermen entering the sea limits managed by other countries through this.
The new system had been developed since 2008 with financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 15 million, from the Icelandic International Development Agency (ICEIDA). The NARA is also planning to fix fish aggregating devices to attract fish throughout the Sri Lankan seas to help the growth of the fisheries industry. "Initially about 50 such equipments would be fixed," Rajapaksha said.
Officials also said that NARA would conduct a survey on whales in the Indian Ocean around Sri Lanka. Modern technology would be used in this regards and the number of whales within a ten miles radius could be determined using hi-tech equipment, officials said.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=42039
No comments:
Post a Comment