During their fishing trips, traditional fishermen gaze at the starry sky, carefully reading the constellations of stars to find fish shoals in the sea. The stars and the subtle changes in sea waters help them find good catch in the wild. They don’t   even need to reach the spot to understand which fish they would get.  

 

 Times have changed and the fishers would soon be tapping on their mobile phone and identify the fish using a mobile app.

 

Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) will release ‘Fish Finder’ mobile app on Saturday which would help them identify the commercial reef and reef associated fish.

 

The app can be downloaded from CMFRI website and would work offline as well, making it useful during long remote fishing trips where internet connectivity is not available.

 

“The user friendly App has an easy search portal with common names and is very useful for public, researchers and students in identifying the fishes. 369 fish species in 66 families can be identified using this app”, said Rekha J Nair, Principal Scientist of Demersal Fisheries Division of CMFRI, who developed the app.

 

 The app is meant to easily identify fish, classify fish scientifically using their common names. Researchers can correctly identify species as far as possible on the field. Snorkelers and those interested in marine life will be benefited to identify fish in live form. Traders in the field as well as exporters also can identify fish easily, a CMFRI press release said.