M S Swaminathan Research Foundation bags the Tech for Good Awards 2021 for the Fisher Friend Mobile Application (FFMA) in the category of disaster management. NASSCOM Foundation in partnership with CGI, assessed the award on the basis of ICT for innovations, social impact, scalability and sustainability to appreciate both profit and non-profit organisations using technology for social good in India.

FFMA is multilingual, and acts as a pan-India decision support system for fisherfolk by providing easy access to all relevant details related to fishing via a single window platform. The app provides dynamic information that addresses the shore-to-shore knowledge to reach out to fisherfolk across the country with instantaneous real-time instruction. The features include GPS for navigating Potential Fishing Zone (PTZ), disaster alerts, International Border Line (IBL) alerts, market prices, danger zones, compass facility, SOS (Save Our Soul) button for rescue, Government schemes, facility of saving offline to view PTZ, and many more.

The destructive effect of the Tsunami along the Indian coastal states in 2004 led to MSSRF and Qualcomm jointly developing the concept of Fisher Friend under the CDMA platform to the fishing community of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The success of the programme resulted in the redevelopment of the Fisher Friend into an android platform in 2013 under the wireless research programme.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) serves as a knowledge partner providing crucial scientific particulars to the fishers through FFMA. An upgraded version of FFMA Version 5.1 was launched to enable the rapid ocean status to fishermen at 1026 fish landings in India in January 2022. The schemes and entitlements are provided by the respective state fisheries department of India.

To read more about Fisher Friend Mobile Application, check out the following links:

https://bit.ly/3qf3qC1

https://bit.ly/36qa80U

https://bit.ly/3KL6Hkm

https://bit.ly/3IjVjuc