Coastal Security Awareness Campaign Conducted at Kollam

Coastal Security Awareness Campaign Conducted at Kollam

As part of a monthly initiative to enhance security consciousness amongst fishermen, a Coastal Security Awareness Campaign (CSAC) was conducted at Kollam District on 27 and 28 Nov 17.

The CSAC was formally inaugurated and conducted at 09:30 am on 27 Nov 17 at Matsya Bhavan Office, Vadi. Later the same day, at 02:30 pm, a campaign was conducted at the Fish Landing Centre, Port Kollam. On 28 Nov 17, the campaign shifted to Neendakara Harbour and Shakthikulangara Harbour at 09:30 am and 02:30 pm respectively. Representatives from the District Administration Kollam, Department of Fisheries and Coastal Police participated in the Campaign.

During the campaign detailed classes on various aspects of coastal security, lifesaving and communication equipment, precautions to be taken while carrying out fishing along the coast, actions to be taken on sighting a suspicious vessel, etc. was taken by representative of Joint Operations Centre (JOC) Kochi during the campaign.

The following issues with regard to coastal security were discussed and highlighted to the fishing communities: -

(a)    Importance of Bio-metric cards and carrying of valid papers by fishing boats, including personnel being hired from outside the state.
(b)    Role of fishermen and local populace as ‘Eyes and Ears’ of security agencies in reporting suspicious activities.
(c)    Implementation of colour coding scheme for fishing boats.
(d)    Reporting methodology of suspicious activities, including use of Toll Free numbers.
(e)    Use of Coast Guard toll free number 1054 for SAR and 1093 for reporting     Coastal     Security     matters.
(g)    Communication discipline on MMB channels.