New Delhi: Fisheries research institutes under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have initiated research on drones and expanding its use for tasks including collect water samples for analysis from open-water bodies and difficult terrains, distribution of feed and medicines into culture systems, biomass estimation, and health monitoring.According to Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, a prototype drone is being developed by ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI) for transportation of fish and shrimp from production centre to market with a capacity of 70 kg payload under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada (PMMSY).The Department of Fisheries has constituted a technical committee to formulate the standard operating procedure (SoP) on application of drone technology in fisheries and Aquaculture, the ministry informed.“Innovations and innovative projects/activities, technology demonstration including startups, incubators and pilot projects is one of the activities under central sector scheme component of PMMSY which also cover extending financial support for promotion of drone technology in fisheries and aquaculture,” Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, George Kurian, informed Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Key activities such as surveillance, stock assessment, environmental monitoring, disease detection, automated feeding in aquaculture including shrimp farm, water sampling, and precision fishing represent significant technological advancements in the fisheries sector which can cover under central sector scheme component of PMMSY, Kurian said.Meanwhile, the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is implementing a flagship scheme PMMSY to bring about Blue Revolution through sustainable and responsible development of fisheries sector and welfare of fishermen in India with an investment of Rs 20,050 crore in all states/ Union Territories.“The scheme inter-alia provides social security measure to fishers including inland fishermen and fish workers through group accidental insurance coverage to fishers including both marine and inland fishermen and allied fish workers wherein the entire insurance premium amount is shared between the Centre and state in the ratio of 60:40 basis for general states, 90:10 for the Himalayan and North Eastern states while in the case of the Union territories, the entire premium amount is paid by the Centre”, the minister told Rajya Sabha.The insurance coverage provided under the PMMSY includes Rs 5,00,000 against death or permanent total disability, Rs 2,50,000 for permanent partial disability, and hospitalization expenses in the event of accident for a sum of Rs 25,000. During the last three years (2022-23 to 2024-25) of the implementation of the PMMSY, the Central government has released a sum of Rs 54.03 crores for insurance coverage of 103.73 lakh fishers with an average of 34.57 lakh fishers annually, Kurian said.