Porbandar: Indian Coast Guard (ICG), today in a statement said it has trained 171 Indian fishermen at sea close to IMBL between India and Pakistan.

A large number of Indian fishing boats were gathered by shepherding at a common place and a boarding team of ICGS ship embarked to undertake community interaction program on a floating platform.

During the training, fishermen were apprised of importance of carrying boat license, biometric card, distress alert transmitters, safety gears and life jackets for their personal safety and identification. They were advised to refrain from crossing IMBL and fishing in non fishing zone as these have legal implications and apprehension by the neighboring country will result in hardship to families.

During the training usage of Distress alert transmitter and reporting unintentional activation to nearest ICG unit was shown to the fishermen.

Fishermen play vital role and are the eyes and ears for the security agencies and therefore were requested to call on Indian Coast Guard ship on channel 16 and report sighting of any suspicious activity in Indian water. The fishermen were provided with logistic support and general medical health check up was also carried out. The out of box idea of conducting community interaction program at sea has gained wide appreciation from the fishing community and will be practiced in near future.

DeshGujarat