Fisherman Across India Using Garmin Handheld GPSMAP 78S And Garmin GPS12H For Locating Fishing Points Accurately

Jul 30, 2021

Challenge

  1. Low cost, portable and user-friendly marine GPS to be used by Fisherman for navigation in boats during fishing.
  2. Should withstand hot & humid Climatic conditions in Coastal areas.
  3. Should be waterproof and should float on water if the device happens to accidently fall in water while using.
  4. Long battery life without the need for Installation of additional power source inside the boats.

Solution

News of Indian fisherman arrested by our neighboring countries as these Indian fishermen crossed over into international water boundaries and often entering other countries water boundaries for fishing unknowingly have been quite common. This was happening as the fisherman often relied on traditional methods of navigation and fishing and did not adapt to technological aids available which could solve this issue being faced by them due to financial constraints.

The Indian government in collaboration with respective state’s who have coasts to their borders implanted a scheme where the govt. would subsidize the purchase of these marine gps receivers often subsidizing 70 to 80% of the value of these devices.

One such client we have worked with is Department of Fisheries, Andhra Pradesh who had taken it upon them to provide every fisherman within the state of Andhra Pradesh Coastal areas with a GPS receiver.

Based on the challenges being faced by the fisherman and cost sensitivity, we proposed them Garmin GPSMAP 78S which checks almost all challenges being faced by the fisherman, as the device has the following features.

  • Garmin GPSMAP 78S has an inbuilt Basemap & Electronic Compass which is essential for navigation.
  • It has a map page which clearly displays the route the boat is traveling with its estimated speed, direction and distance to point, it also has a unique feature of trackback which shows a track on the map directly to the point where the boat initially started from.
  • Garmin GPSMAP 78S is an IPX7 rated device which makes it dust & waterproof, the device can also float on water.

Result

The fisherman in the coastal areas of the State of Andhra Pradesh are now using Garmin GPSMAP 78S which is subsidized by the State and the central government, GPSMAP 78S is being used not only for navigation in water but also for feeding coordinates into the GPS receiver provided to them by the Dept. of Fisheries and navigating to hot fishing points and to avoid points where there might not be any fishes. The instances of Indian fisherman crossing into neighboring countries water borders have also reduced significantly. This has made there fishing much safer and more efficient.