Experts at a workshop on ‘Bio-security in aquaculture' have stressed the need for strengthening the infrastructure to identify fish diseases and find solutions to them.

In an informal chat with presspersons on the sidelines of a workshop at the College of Fisheries in Mangalore on Wednesday, Prof S. Yathiraj, Dean of Veterinary College, Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, said that there is a need to strengthen diagnostic laboratories to identify fish diseases.

Stating that fisheries medicine as a subject is not being taught now, he said there are certain diseases that are communicable from fish to animals and to human beings. Such diseases should be declared as important diseases. Steps should be taken to control such diseases.

It is essential to strengthen diagnostic laboratories to identify fish diseases and find solutions for them, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr James F. Turnbull, Professor at the Institute of Aquaculture at University of Stirling, Scotland, said that India has taken a radical and innovative approach to introduce pharmacology and toxicology topics in fisheries education. The presence of drug residues in aquatic animals is a cause of concern in the European Union.

He said that it is also essential to persuade fish farmers to take the advice of fisheries professionals on these matters.

Dr K.M. Shankar, Dean of College of Fisheries, said that large-scale use of drugs and chemicals to control diseases hampers fish health and health of human consumers. On several occasions, export of fisheries products has been affected due to drug residual issues.

The workshop in Mangalore, which is being sponsored by the Union Government, is an effort to create awareness through training for effective safe use of drugs, medicine and chemicals in aquaculture.

This exercise is just a beginning in the country and it has begun from the Colleges of Fisheries in Mangalore, he added.

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