Localised marine weather information complements official general forecasts to make traditional fishing activities safer, says a study by a team of researchers from the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), India Meteorological Department (IMD), and the University of Sussex, the United Kingdom.
Weather information downscaled for grids of 5 km x 5 km — with localised forecasts issued for 25 km x 25 km area — can effectively complement official forecasts that are usually meant for large segments of the coastal waters, says the open-access paper published online in Weather, the flagship journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, the U.K.
“Small grid forecasts allow fishers to launch and land boats at secure spots, fish close to the shore, avoid high-wind ocean areas and quickly return when the weather turns foul,” said Abhilash S., director of the Cusat Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research (ACARR), one of the authors of the paper. “Availability of such forecasts can limit the number of fishing days lost to blanket warnings that may not be relevant to local areas where fishers go,” said Dr. Abhilash in a statement here.
