{"id":474,"date":"2019-02-07T11:28:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T11:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/?p=474"},"modified":"2019-02-14T12:57:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T12:57:20","slug":"forecasting-with-fishers-to-save-lives-at-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/forecasting-with-fishers-to-save-lives-at-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Forecasting with fishers to save lives at sea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Accurate, accessible and timely marine weather forecasts are\nof crucial importance in planning and conducting fishing safely around the\nworld, yet this essential information is not easily accessible to artisanal\nfishers from the South-West Coast of India, and as a result there are persistently\nweather-related accidents resulting in loss of earnings, equipment and\nsometimes life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter columns-1 is-cropped\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"451\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/files\/2019\/02\/fishers.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"475\" data-link=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/?attachment_id=475\" class=\"wp-image-475\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/files\/2019\/02\/fishers.jpg 451w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/files\/2019\/02\/fishers-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/files\/2019\/02\/fishers-100x60.jpg 100w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/files\/2019\/02\/fishers-150x90.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/files\/2019\/02\/fishers-200x120.jpg 200w, https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/files\/2019\/02\/fishers-450x269.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 451px) 100vw, 451px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">A new <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/files\/2019\/02\/2019-02-SSRP-Forecasting-for-Fishers-Policy-Briefing.pdf\">policy brief<\/a> explores why incidents relating to adverse weather conditions are still so commonplace on the South-West Coast of India, and suggests ways these incidents could be reduced. The brief is based on research by an interdisciplinary team from the University of Sussex, who studied two fishing villages in the district &#8211; Anchuthengu and Poonthura \u2013 between February and September 2018.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers conducted in-depth interviews, focus groups\nand co-production workshops with the locals, as well as tracking five boats for\n100 days in each village, recording their fishing patterns in line with\nforecasts, perceived risks, and local risk cultures. They also tested the\naccessibility of fishing forecasts and alerts available in the local area and how\nthese affect fishers\u2019 actions. They found that fishers regularly checked for\nforecasts using different sources and had a good general understanding of\nweather conditions. However, there was a general mistrust of forecasts within\nthe community and fishers often found forecasts to be too generic and\nuncoordinated. Furthermore, even when weather conditions were poor and\npotentially dangerous, fishers frequently made \u2018risky\u2019 decisions to go out to\nsea or to stay out because of the financial losses they would otherwise suffer.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The policy brief recommends a number of ways to improve the\nsafety of fishers, highlighting that although incidents increase when there are\nextreme weather events, accidents are commonplace throughout the year.&nbsp; Recommendations include regularly checking\nbeach and harbour structures that could interfere with fishers\u2019 habitat safety,\nand promoting safe fishing through local fishers\u2019 disaster risk reduction\ncommittees. A number of suggestions are also made about the forecasts\nthemselves; to be useful they need to be more focused on offshore conditions,\npresent more opportunities for fishers\u2019 feedback and be available across\nchannels and forms of media such as print, wireless and social networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read the policy brief: &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/files\/2019\/02\/2019-02-SSRP-Forecasting-for-Fishers-Policy-Briefing.pdf\">Forecasting with fishers to save lives at sea<\/a>&#8216; [PDF 175KB]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Accurate, accessible and timely marine weather forecasts are of crucial importance in planning and conducting fishing safely around the world, yet this essential information is not easily accessible to artisanal fishers from the South-West Coast of India, and as a<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/forecasting-with-fishers-to-save-lives-at-sea\/\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[148816],"tags":[76726,11767,153398,153399,153393,153400,153357,153362,153395,45097,153397],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":654,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions\/654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/policy-engagement\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}