CUSAT Researcher Invents Remedy to Reduce Fuel Consumption in Fishing Vessels

KOCHI:
Baiju M.V., researcher of the CUSAT Department of Ship Technology has come up with a solution to the crisis in the fisheries sector caused by the use of low fuel efficient vessels.

The significant finding that a bulbous bow attached to the  fishing vessels in the forward part of the hull of the vessel below the water line at the front can reduce the water resistance of the vessel approximately by 17.5% at a given speed. Cochin University of science and Technology (CUSAT) awarded M.V. Baiju a research degree for this finding. The research was conducted to make practical changes in state-of-art technology.

The social benefit of the research is that the cost of fishing can get reduced by 5 to 8 percent and a proportional reduction in the amount of fuel consumption. This is made possible with specially designed stem part (forward most region of a vessel ). The discovery is the culmination of extensive and diverse research with the help of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, a state-of-the-art computer technology that analyzes the dynamic movements of ocean going vessels. Baiju progressed his academic  research in the Department of Ship Technology with a technical analysis focusing on more than 35 of the 145 high-efficiency conventional fishing vessels across India.

One of the major shipyards in India  has alraedy built a ship based on this and handed over it toTamil Nadu Fisheries Department. The design and construction of this innovative fishing is now a part of the Government of India’s maritime resource development mega project “Blue Revolution”.

Researcher Baiju MV is a Senior Scientist in Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ClFT), Kochi and the research was conducted under the guidance of Dr K Sivaprasad, Professor of the Department of Ship Technology, CUSAT. Baiju received research support from “Green fishing systems for tropical seas of Central Institute of Fisheries Technology  (CIFT ) which was funded by National Agriculture Science Fund (NASF ) under Indian Council for Agriculture Research  (ICAR).