INCOIS advisory helps fishermen net Hilsa bonanza off Bengal coast

Earlier this month, on August 11, fishermen returning to the Digha coast of West Bengal brought back an exceptionally large haul of Hilsa fish, with landings estimated at 30-40 tonnes in a single day. The bumper catch generated excitement not only among fishing communities but also scientists hundreds of kilometres away at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) here.The record haul appeared to validate the effectiveness of INCOIS’s species-specific Hilsa Fishery Advisory (HiFA), a forecasting system designed to help fishermen locate favourable fishing grounds for the prized fish.Launched last year during INCOIS’s Foundation Day celebrations, HiFA was developed primarily to support fishermen along the West Bengal coast. The advisory uses advanced machine learning