Scientists from College of Fisheries, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), Ludhiana (Punjab) participated in the International Conference on ‘Natural Resource Management: Ecological Perspectives’ organized by the Indian Ecological society, Ludhiana in collaboration with Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Jammu (SKUAST-J) at SKUAST-J, Jammu. Over 600 national and international delegates attended the conference.
Dr. Meera D. Ansal, Sr. Scientist cum Head was awarded honorary fellowship (Honorary Causa Fellow) of ‘The Indian Ecological Society’, Ludhiana during the inaugural function of the International Conference, for her remarkable contributions to The Indian Ecological Society as a live member and development of aquaculture sector in the State, with special reference to inland saline water aquaculture.
During the conference eight technical sessions on ecological perspectives for natural resource management, with respect to agriculture, livestock and fisheries were held concurrently. Dr. Asha Dhawan, Dean, College of Fisheries chaired the technical session under the theme area ‘Eco-responsive Livestock and Fisheries production’ and delivered the Lead Lecture on ‘Climate change and its impact on fisheries’. Research paper entitled ‘Prospects and constraints of pangas catfish, Pangasius pangasiusculture in Punjab-A case study’ by S.N. Datta, Asha Dhawan, M.D. Ansal, Prabjeet Singh and Shanthanagouda A.H., won the best oral presentation award. Pangas catfish is a high value potential candidate species, not only for diversification of low value carps but also for productivity enhancement, holding ample scope for vertical expansion of aquaculture sector, without exerting any addition pressure on the already depleting land/water resources. Pangas catfish productivity of 7 tonnes/acre/6 months has been achieved by GADVASU at Fazilka, which is 3 times higher than carps (2t/acre/yr).
During the conference, in addition to oral and poster deliberations, success story competition in agriculture, livestock & fisheries was also held. The Success story on ‘Aquaculture in Inland Salt affected water logged areas in Punjab’ by Dr. Asha Dhawan, Dean, College of Fisheries and her team, Dr. Meera D. Ansal, Gurmeet Singh and Kulwinder Kaur, was awarded the first prize.Aquaculture technologies developed by the College of Fisheries for inland salt affected waterlogged areas of the State, has been replicated in 6 villages of district Fazilka and district Mukatsar. About 470 acres of zero earning waste land has been brought under aquaculture with the help of financial assistance from the State government and over 100 farmers have been benefitted in these villages so far.
Dr. A.S. Nanda, Vice Chancellor, GADVASU congratulated the scientists for their achievements in the conference and appreciated the efforts made by the college for horizontal as well as vertical expansion of the fisheries sector in the State, through region specific need based R& D programs.
