The Directorate General of Shipping has proposedthe establishment of a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) off thesouth-west coast of India to prevent collision incidents betweenmerchant vessels and fishing vessels off the coast of Kerala. This proposal has been drawn taking into consideration past collisionincidents off the Indian coast, traffic patterns of merchant vesselsfor past years, and optimum sea routes, in consonance with the currenttraffic flow, including simplification of traffic in converging areasoff the coast of Kerala. The proposal has also considered aspectspertaining to the safety of navigation, maritime security and theseparation of opposing streams of traffic to reduce incidents ofcollision in Indian waters. Stakeholder consultations are in progress for establishing the TrafficSeparation Scheme TSS in the south-west coast. The proposed TSSlanes are currently under consideration, and will be located at adistance of about 90 nautical miles west of Mangalore in Karnataka,with the lanes leading in a south-easterly direction to thesouthernmost tip of India and ending about 40 nautical miles off southof Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. The average distance from the coast isabout 50 nautical miles. The proposal will be put on the DGS website before finalization, andwill also be sent to stakeholders. The promulgation of TSS on thesouth-west coast of India is expected to shift the density of merchanttraffic away from the coast and merchant ship traffic will become moreconcentrated in the established TSS. This is expected to result inmore sea room for fishing vessels to operate safely and will,therefore, be beneficial to the fishing industry.