The Department introduced a Pilot Project on Shore to Fishing Vessel Communication System under the Marine Instrumentation programme during 1992-93, with the main objective of providing a communication link between the fishermen out at Sea and the shore, for their safety at sea.

Under this project, nine shore stations were established in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and South Goa and about 850 walkie-talkie sets were distributed to the small-scale fisherfolk for demonstrating the advantages of the system to the fishing community. For maintaining and servicing of the systems, Annual Maintenance Contract for a duration of one year was awarded. The management, maintenance and operation of the systems would be handed over to the respective State Governments, after the successful operation for one year.

For Phase-II of the Shore to Fishing Vessel Communication System, which is proposed to be implemented from 1996-97 onwards, the technical specifications for the communication system have been revised on the basis of the experience gained while implementing Phase-I of the project. The height of the tower had been increased from about 30 metres to 40 metres to increase the range of coverage to about 40 k.m. from the shore for both reception and transmission. Specifications for shore transceiver and the walkie-talkies were revised for providing a minimum coverage of 40 k.m. The other modifications incorporated include provision of a water proof case for the walkie-talkies, single unit battery chargers instead of multi-unit chargers, provision of spare Ni-Cd batteries, etc. The scheme in Phase-II will be extended to West Bengal, Orissa, Maharashtra, North Goa and the Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Pondicherry and Lakshadweep.