Bhubaneswar: Inaugurating three days national virtual consultation on Indian ornamental fisheries, Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Pratap Chandra Sarangi urged for indigenous manufacturing of aquariums and the accessories for an Atma Nirbhar Bharat. He also emphasised on increasing the production of ornamental fish to develop the ornamental fisheries sector in the country.
ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA), Bhubaneswar, in association with the Department of Fisheries, Government of India, New Delhi and National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad had organised the national virtual consultation on “Indian Ornamental Fisheries 2.0 – The Way Forward”.
Other dignitaries for the inaugural programme included Shri Atul Chaturvedi, IAS, Secretary, Department of Fisheries & Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Dr C. Suvarna, IFS, CE, NFDB, Dr J.K. Jena, DDG, Fisheries Science, Dr J. Balaji, IAS, Jt. Secretary, DoF, Dr S.K.Swain, Director, ICAR-CIFA ,Dr Dilip Kumar, Former Vice Chancellor, ICAR-CIFE, Dr S.Felix, Former Vice-Chancellor, TNJFU, Dr VV. Sugunan, Former ADG, ICAR, Dr S.Raizada, Former ADG (Inland Fy), ICAR and many other scientists and top officials from the ministry.
The three days consultation covered different thematic areas such as enhancing the domestic ornamental fish production and constraints in marketing, achieving self-reliance in manufacturing of aquarium accessories, quality feed, medicines and aquatic plants, promoting the domestic retail trade of ornamental fish and hobby promotion, boosting ornamental fish exports and issues in imports, biodiversity concerns & policy issues and research & development priorities, & capacity building.
Thirty-two key stakeholders from different key segments of the sector participated in the consultation and shared their opinions and the event was attended by more than 2000 other stakeholders.
The concerns raised by the stakeholders were documented properly, compiled and subjected to elaborate discussion during the event. Based on the discussions, a set of draft recommendations were made and circulated for stakeholders’ opinion. Subsequently a detailed roadmap to be developed for the Ornamental Fisheries Development in India.
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