The new directive came to light when the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) sought Naval Intelligence’s exemption from its stricture that “crew change can only be done when a seismic vessel makes a port call” rather than through supply vessels, fishing boats or helicopter. Director General V K Sibal said in his letter that survey vessels deployed at a stretch for three to five months could not make frequent calls for offloading DGH geologists and geophysicists every fortnight.

Seismic survey ships searching for oil and gas bearing zones operate only during fair weather from October-May. Due to the small window, these vessels do not call at the port until their assignment is completed. “Having more frequent port calls will not be commercially viable for the seismic vessels. It, therefore, follows that DGH representative will be required to stay in the vessel for a much longer duration than the current tenure of 14 days,” Sibal wrote on March 12. One way out, he wrote, was to allow the existing practice of permitting crew change by helicopter, supply boat or fishing boat. Or else, the “Defence Ministry may explore the possibility of deputing Naval officers for security officer duty in place of DGH officers,” he added.

Though intelligence regarding a vessel carrying terrorist through sea was sent to the Coast Guard and Naval Intelligence, it could not be located as the terrorists moved from the ship to a fishing vessel and later onto a rubber dinghy. They entered Mumbai and attacked high-profile targets including Oberoi and Taj hotels, killing 164 people of which 26 were foreigners.

Though a plan is afoot to restrict fishing boats from criss-crossing the coastline by tagging them and issuing identity cards to fishermen under the state Marine Fishing Regulation Act, however, there is no restriction on plying people to land from offshore installations or ships.