Article Posted on : - Dec 09, 2008

An artist's impression of Oceansat 2 satellite to be launched by ISRO next year. Image credit: International Ocean Colour Coordinating Group

KOLKATA (PTI): The seafood industry will get a boost with the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) indigenously-built Oceansat-2 satellite, to be launched in 2009. The satellite will help in identifying potential fishing zones and forecast weather conditions more accurately.

"Oceansat-2 satellite will have an ocean colour monitor, which will help identify potential fishing zones (PFZs) forecast. It will also carry radar scatterometer, which will measure the sea surface level winds," ISRO Deputy Director (space application centre) A S Kirankumar said.

"The present ocean colour monitor is old and functioning since 1999 sent with Oceansat-1. The new monitor will supplement the existing one and will not be scrapped."

The new monitor system will help the industry maximise yield and lower cost due to greater accuracy, he said.

According to a benefit-cost analysis with the monitor's data, an average receipt was found to have increased from Rs 38,428 to Rs 65,315 for trawlers and Rs 1,443 to Rs 2,742 or gill-netter to PFZs users. The benefit-cost ratio increased from 1.27 to 2.12 for trawling and 1.3 to 2.14 for gill-netting compared to non-PFZ users to PFZs users, respectively.

Oceansat-2 is ISRO’s second in the series of Indian Remote Sensing satellites dedicated for ocean research.