Gujarat boasts of a long coastline of about 1,640 km which is one of the longest amongst the Indian states. Additionally, the state has 102 major notified landing points. Fishermen form the largest community of ‘seafarers’ outside the regular organised seafaring community and therefore they are rightly called the “eyes and ears” for coastal security.
Owing to sensitive geographical location of Gujarat and periodic inadvertent crossing of IMBL by fishermen, a need was felt to sensitise fishermen about the dos and don’ts while they are out fishing. Also, in order to bring synergy amongst all stakeholders and to provide a platform for fishermen to interact with security agencies and to give a boost to the coastal security of the state a Coastal Security Workshop (CSW) will be conducted by Indian Navy at INS Sardar Patel Porbandar on 9 March.
This programme will have participation of all major stakeholders of Coastal Security, viz. Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Police and Customs in addition to the local fisherman, the primary target audience of this programme.
The event will showcase various measures in force by all agencies in maintaining security in coastal region of Gujarat. It will be an interactive programme to discuss difficulties faced by local fisherman in collaborating with security agencies in disbursing/receiving the information in a timely manner.