Coast Guard organises clean-up drive in Chennai

Apart from dozens of personnel from the Coast Guard and coastal police, local fisher folk, representatives from the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP), MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) took part in the clean-up drive. They collected more than 2,000 kg waste from the sea front, including discarded nylon fishing nets.

Following that, Coast Guard officials held a community interaction programme in coordination with BOBP and MSSRF, which was attended by leaders of eight fishermen associations.

DIG NK Kaul, officer-in-charge, Coast Guard Store Depot, urged all fishermen to act as the “eyes and ears” of the Coast Guard to help combat seaward threats to national security. 

Issues related to safety at sea, carrying basic life-saving equipment and biometric ID cards were taken up for discussion. They were also shown basic first aid procedures like resuscitation of those saved from drowning and the use of ‘Friend’ mobile application developed by the MSSRF.

Further, the fishermen were given safety stickers to be placed on their vessels for reference if they encountered any emergency while at sea. Apart from this, practical demonstration of life raft designed for safety of fishing boats was done.