College of Fisheries, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) trained 30 persons, including 2 aspiring female candidates, in a 5-day training program to take up fish farming 
as a self-employing enterprise for livelihood/entrepreneurship. The course Director Dr. Meera D. Ansal, Head, Department of Aquaculture, communicated that application inflow for training in fish & shrimp farming in the university has scaled up in the recent past and more people, especially youth, is coming forward to adopt fisheries as a lucrative diversifying farming component for enhanced income from their land holdings. She added that major emphasis was made to educate the trainees to adopt environment friendly integrated farming practices involving fish farming for optimised utilisation of land for higher income, she added.
The technical coordinators of the program, Dr. Abhed Pandey and Dr. Sachin Onkar Khairnar, executed the technical sessions on selection of site, construction and preparation of ponds, best management practices (BMPs) for water quality management, feeding practices, health management and post-harvest handling 
for storage/processing, marketing and economics in respect to potential species like carps, catfish, shrimp and ornamental fish. All the participants were provided equal opportunity for hands on training during the practical sessions and an exposure visit to local fish market was also arranged to apprise them of the prevailing marketing system in the State, informed the technical coordinators. Special session on role of mass media in marketing was also organised to sensitise the trainees about modern day marketing strategies.
Literature booklets were provided to the participants for reference purpose and feedback was also collected to put their suggestions on record for making such training programs more delivery efficient for participants of all age groups, informed Dr. Ansal.
Dr. Kulbir Singh Sandhu, Dean of College of Fisheries, said that university is playing a vital role in capacity building of 
farming community, youth, entrepreneurs and women folk to take up fish farming more scientifically for long term sustainability and enhanced profitability. Dr. Harish Kumar Verma, Director Extension Education, informed that university is serving the livestock sector, including fisheries, through its strong R&D programs involving an efficient extension network for transfer of technology and capacity building of various stakeholders. Besides conducting scheduled training programs, university also conducts trainings on demand for the welfare of the sector, he added.
