Indian Coast Guard, which has been conducting community interactive meetings with fishermen across coastal Karnataka, used one such session at Ullal village in Mangalore taluk on Tuesday to create awareness about coastal security and to persuade young people from fishing community to join coastal security forces in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of the interactive session, Mr R.K. Sharma, Operations Officer, Coast Guard, Karnataka, said that Coast Guard, in association with other agencies such as Karnataka Coastal Security Police and fishermen organisations, has already conducted such programmes in Karwar, Bhatkal and Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district and in Old Mangalore Port in Mangalore.
One more such programme will be conducted in Malpe, Udupi district, by the month-end, he said.
Mr Mukund Nayak, Inspector of Karnataka Coastal Security Police, said fishermen play a major role in coastal security. Stating that such interactive programmes with fishermen are bearing fruit, he said fishermen are sharing information with police and Coast Guard, if they come to know about an alien boat or ship in the sea.
Mr Arun, Captain of Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Kasturba Gandhi, said that fishing boats should go in for group fishing. This will help them during distress. Fishermen should immediately report the presence of suspicious boats or ships in their vicinity to the authorities concerned, he added.
The Coast Guard used the interactive session with fishermen to persuade the youths to join coastal security forces in the country. Mr Sharma said that youths from fishing community should focus on joining coastal security forces. Representation from Karnataka fishermen should be improved in such forces, he said.
The Coast Guard personnel also conducted a demonstration on using distress alert transmitters (DATs) in fishing boats.
Fishermen were informed that this instrument on the boat helps them to convey any distress or emergency situation to the Coast Guard authorities immediately.