New tracking devices on trawlers opening 2011 in Vietnams
QUANG NGAI — Central Quang Ngai Province authorities plan to spend VND7 billion (US$357,000) equipping local fishing vessels with sophisticated telecommunications and tracking devices to improve the management of search and rescue operations.
The project involves the provincial Sub-Department of Fisheries Resources Exploitation and Protection fitting 300 fishing vessels with tracking devices, compasses, transmitters, walkie-talkies and antennas.
The mainland control centre will also be fitted with the new technology.
The new onboard systems would automatically inform the control centre of the location of fishing vessels and help fishing vessels get weather information, said the sub-department's deputy director Phung Dinh Toan.
The vessels would also be able to send emergency information including exact location, enhancing search and rescue efforts, Toan said.
"The devices will help the control centre to quickly define the distance between a fishing vessel in distress and surrounding areas and this is critical when it comes to helping rescue teams to work out the time needed to get to a vessel," he said.
All relevant information would be automatically transmitted between fishing vessels and the control centre so that the fishermen would not be required to carry out complicated operations, he stressed.
There were more than 5,500 fishing vessels in Quang Ngai at present but most of them used telecommunications devices which allowed only for contact between fishing vessels. This made it difficult for the relevant agencies to define their location in case of emergency, Toan said.
"In case of storms or low pressure, the fishermen will be required to leave their devices on at all times to ensure round the clock contact with relevant agencies," he said.
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