To create awareness on aquatic medicine, College of Fisheries in Mangaluru will train in-service personnel from State governments and universities in the country.

Addressing presspersons in Mangaluru on Friday, KM Shankar, Dean of the college, said the country loses ₹1000 crore annually to diseases in aquaculture.

Stating that farmers use antibiotics, drugs, chemicals and pesticides, he said residues of them in fish are a concern for consumers. Use of drugs in aqua-farming is not regulated properly due to the lack of education and research.

Considering this, College of Fisheries, with the help of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has taken the lead in introducing teaching and research in aquatic medicine. The teaching in aquatic medicine for undergraduate programme is approved by ICAR.

Stressing the need for training the in-service personnel from State governments and universities on aquatic medicine, he said the training programme, which is scheduled at College of Fisheries in Mangaluru from February 8-23, is supported by the National Fisheries Development Board.

At present, 23 lakh acres in fresh, brackish and marine waters of India is under aqua-farming.

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