Integrated Potential Fishing Zone Forecasts: A Promising Information and Communication Technology Tool for Promotion of Green Fishing in the Islands

The fishing vessels mostly operate from Port Blair in South Andaman. Developmental departments have provided subsidies for augmenting the fishing efforts, but the fishing vessels available in the islands are diverted for tourism and related works. A total number of 22 and 3 PFZ forecasts were validated and from Andaman and Nicobar sectors respectively. On an average, 35.5 per cent of the received forecasts were validated during 2010-2011 in ANT. There are 57 beach landing centers. The main fishing gear used is drift gilinet which contributes to over 40 per cent of the marine fish landings. A total of 20 feedbacks were collected from validation experiments carried out within and outside PFZs simultaneously with similar vessels during 20 10-11 covering different seasons. The lacunae hampering fishing efforts in Andaman sea can be reversed by generating better awareness on the potential use of IPFZ forecasts.