Fishery Survey of India plans to buy two survey vessels for east and west coasts, says Director General

A student watching the specimen of Barracuda at the Open House organised by the Fisheries Survey of India, at the fishing harbour in Visakhapatnam on on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: V. RAJU

The Fishery Survey of India (FSI) is planning to buy two new survey vessels – one large and one small – for deployment on the east and west coasts of the nation, according to the Director General of FSI, Mumbai, Sreenath K.R.

Students at the Open House organised by the Fisheries Survey of India, at the fishing harbour in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit:
V. RAJU

The FSI DG was in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday as part of his tour to the Visakhapatnam Zonal Base of FSI. He inaugurated an ‘Open House’ organised on board the Departmental survey vessels MFV Matsya Shikari and MFV Matsya Darshini at the fishing harbour. He went round the exhibits on display and later inspected various cabins of the two FSI survey vessels.

“The large vessel will be deployed on the east coast and the smaller one on the west. We also have plans to acquire a polar going vessel, to navigate the icy polar region to support India’s research work in Antarctica,” Mr. Sreenath told The Hindu.

Marine Mammal Survey

On the ongoing Marine Mammal Survey, being undertaken by the FSI, the D-G said that the survey was being done as part of the export market requirements and to ensure continued export of shrimps to the U.S. “As many as 32 marine mammals are reported in the marine waters of India and in our survey, we have identified 26 species, so far. A total of 13,000 Dolphins have been identified in the upper east coast as part of the survey, so far. A majority of the them are the Indian bottlenose Dolphins,” he said.

“Under the GloLitter project of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the FSI has been collecting abandoned, lost or otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG) from the ocean water, these fishing gears, also known as ‘ghost gears’ are a major contributor to marine plastic pollution. During the last three years six tonnes of marine plastics were collected by the FSI,” says Mr. Sreenath.

“We have identified 19 hotspots in A.P. and Odisha, where plastic was getting collected,” FSI Vizag Zonal Base Head D. Bhami Reddy, added.