Help! Can anyone hear us?

Miles into the unforgiving deep blue sea, an overcast sky, and the real possibility of a storm approaching is a frightening – and very real – scenario for Tamil Nadu fishermen who head out for days on end on creaking old trawlers to earn a livelihood. What makes it more chilling is staring into the vast expanse of ocean and realising they have no way to call or signal for help.

Communication has always been a challenge for TN fishermen. They have for long been asking for modern communication devices such as satellite phones as they are venturing far and long into the sea as compared to previous generations of fishermen who never motored far from the shoreline. Cyclone Ockhi in 2017, which claimed 204 lives of fishers including 177 missing vindicated their plea and the Union government agreed to permit satellite phones. Still, the challenges are far from over.