Panaji: The government is working on a "special mechanism" to track all vessels operating in India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Monday.
"Any vessel entering India's exclusive economic zone will be tracked through a special mechanism. Every fishing boat will be given an electronic identity tag," Parrikar told reporters on Monday on the sidelines of an event to commission four Indian Coast Guard vessels.
"Around two lakh fishing and other boats can be tracked. If any boat moves suspiciously, it will be automatically flagged. Any suspicious movement of a fishing boat outside its territory can be monitored," he said.
He said that it would take an year to bring all fishing vessels under the purview of the monitoring system.
"There is an electronic instrument which needs to be fitted to boats. It is like an identity card which sends off signals to Indian space satellite," Parrikar said.
"We have issued these instruments to the Indian Coast Guard. Cards issued to fishermen can be verified for duplication or forgery," the minister said.
He said that the work on installing radars on the coast is on.
"During phase one, 46 radars were to be installed and in phase two 38 coastal radars will be installed. The first phase is over," he added.
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