The ICARCentral Institute of freshwater Aquaculture, Bhubaneswar in collaboration with Jeeva Suraksha, a reputed NGO of Sivasagar, Assam working in the field of conservation, education and employment generation in North East India organised a twoday training programme on ornamental fish farming at Department of Life Sciences, Dibrugarh university on March16 and17. The objective of the programme is to make people aware about the lucrative business of ornamental fish farming, its trade and how the rural folk of Assam get to know about the technology of ornamental fish breeding and culture. Since Assam is the goldmine of indigenous ornamental fishes, many indigenous varieties are being exported outside the country through the exporters from all over the country, but the local people and even the suppliers do not know the price in national and international market. Consequently, some of indigenous ornamental fishes are under the threat of extinction due to overexploitation and hence, awareness and motivation of the stakeholders is very much essential for conservation of these species. During the Inaugural function Krishnashree Das Kalita, District Fisheries Development Officer, Dibrugarh explained about different government schemes and ask support for implementation of Assam Fisheries Act in the district. Prof S.P Biswas in his inaugural talk motivated the entrepreneurs about the conservation of indigenous ornamental fish species of Assam. Dr Ranjita Bania, Fisheries biologist and Coordinator of the programme addressed the gathering and said that Assam is far behind in ornamental fish farming compared to the other states and it is almost nonexistent in upper Assam. She thanked Dr J Sundaray, Director, CIFA ICAR for the training programme at Dibrugarh and requested him for future such collaboration in the field of aquaculture in NE India. Dr Saroj Kumar Swain, Principal Scientist ICARCIFA and Course Director delivered lectures on breeding and culture of indigenous and exotic ornamental fishes and also showed CIFA prepared documentary films on ornamental fish farming across the country. Likhanta Borah, an entrepreneur from Moran also shared his experience. On the 2nd day, Kripan Sarkar, a renowned entrepreneur of Siliguri shared his experience on live food culture and on farm production of aquarium fish. Dr. S.P Biswas, Professor, Dept of Life Sciences shared his experience on acclimatization and prophylactic measures needed in aquarium fish breeding. The training programme was attended by 38 participants from Jorhat, Golaghat, Dhemaji, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district along with some research scholars and faculty members of Dibrugarh University. Dr Amal Bawri, Secretary, JeevaSuraksha and Bhadra Kumar Dutta, executive member of the NGO conducted the programme.