One day training cum awareness program on “Importance of aquatic animal disease surveillance in aquaculture environment” was organized at College of Fisheries (CoF), Guru Angad 
Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and National Fisheries Development Board (ICAR-NFDB) funded project on ‘National surveillance on aquatic animal disease’. Dr. H.K. Verma, Director of Extension Education and Dean, College of Fisheries, Dr. K.S. Sandhu inaugurated the training program. A total of 24 progressive and potential farmers from different districts of Punjab participated in the training program. One of the fundamental mandates of the training was to create awareness about the shrimp farming practices, current
prevailing diseases and prevention protocols. Dr. H.K. Verma addressed the farmers and highlighted the utilization of inland saline and water logged areas of Punjab and motivated them to take the benefit of the land which is not under use for agriculture purposes and Dr. K.S. Sandhu addressed the participants and the faculty about the importance of surveillance, data management and interpretation data for sustainable production and he also conveyed farmers to utilize GADVASU facilities for field related problems particularly disease diagnosis. Dr. Meera D. Ansal, Head of Aquaculture Department, highlighted the scope of shrimp farming in Punjab. Dr. Naveen Kumar B.T, Course director of the training program expl
ained the source of Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) seed, role of Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) and Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), and the importance of disease surveillance in shrimp farming in India. Dr. Prabjeet Singh and Dr. Anuj Tyagi interacted with the farmers about site selection, farm design, biosecurity measures and best management practices for sustainable shrimp farming. Dr. Shanthanagouda and Dr. Amit Mandal discussed about feed management and biofloc technology to increase and double the farmers’ income. During lunch time, farmers and faculty members of the College interacted and shared the aspects related to shrimp farming activities, and current and new technologies of farming in India, which help developing the confidence among the farmers. In the afternoon session, farmers were 
exposed to onsite and point of care disease diagnostic tool (farmer level kit) for quick detection of shrimp pathogens, and they were also demonstrated the shipment of shrimp samples for disease diagnosis in the laboratory. Further, it is to mention that, College of Fisheries, GADVASU is organizing various specialized training programs of variable duration as an entrepreneurship option for the unemployed youth and is quite popular in the society as the number of aquaculture practices are commonly seen in household. In addition, the trend of aquaculture in Punjab has shown a positive sign which would potentially help making the country a blue revolution. Then the event was concluded with vote of thanks and saying fish for health and wealth by Dr. Anuj Tyagi.
