 Fishing is one of the key activities bringing substantial economic value to St. Lucia as the sector accounts for 25% of the agricultural GDP. With fishermen facing many hazards including risk of becoming lost, the Department of Fisheries has introduced vessel monitoring systems to assist with search and rescue missions at sea. The system monitors fishing locations by satellite technology, automatically updates and records the journeys and transfers the information to shore stations. Once installed, the system also enables boat owners to monitor their vessels at any time, allowing fishermen to go fishing at sea with greater confidence that they will return safely. Chief Fisheries Officer Sirita Williams-Peter says the introduction of this equipment falls under the vessel information technology to save lives project, which aims to increase resilience within the fisheries sector and maintain fisherfolk safety through the use of automated systems for more real-time monitoring and communication. She notes that in addition to other safety equipment, the monitoring system is an invaluable fishing tool that can be used by loved ones and marine police during times of distress. The intention of that device is to help with search and rescue missions. So if, for example, your vessel is out there, either you recall, you call in and you've indicated you have a distress and see there's a mayday situation or if you use your VHF radio on Channel 16 and indicate there's an issue or if you have a float plan and you have indicated to a loved one or a friend that you will be back by a certain time and they have seen hours of pass and they have not seen you, that can cause the process for us to go and find out in the system where your location is. With that information, it helps narrow down the search for the police marine unit and other regional partners to find you because it's very challenging. We have a vast amount of ocean space and it's very challenging to find one fishing vessel in that amount of space. During training sessions held in the north and south of the island, fishermen were given an opportunity to witness firsthand the monitoring system in action. Fisherman Andrew Miller encourages fellow fisherfolk to acquire the system for their safety and family's livelihood. I went out for at least 15 minutes with the device on board my boat for 15 minutes and when I came back they showed me my tracks of every step that I made, the speed of the boat and everything. I encourage all my fisher folks to get on board with that because that's saving your life and putting your family life in a better position, not being worried and you're at sea. As the chief fisher told me that they could give us our personal thing to view our own boat whilst it's at sea. So if I have that I could download it on one of my children or my wife's phone and they will know if I'm in distress at a certain time, if I have a habit of going to sea and coming at 10 in the morning and you see it's two o'clock you should check, that's something you have to let them know they should check and if a phone call have to be made to the marine police then they'll see Andrew Miller and they'll go on to the app and they'll all right if I'm in distress or if it's I'm still fishing at a certain location. So it's a very interesting thing and I believe all fishermen should get it. The fee for the monitoring system is being subsidized by the government of St. Lucia and will be completely waived but owners interested in obtaining a vessel monitoring system are asked to contact the respective fishermen cooperatives or the Department of Fisheries at 468-4143 from the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture I am Anisia Antoine reporting.