There is a proposal before the State Government to sanction a dedicated engineering section to the Department of Fisheries, according to V.K.Shetty, Managing Director, Karnataka Fisheries Development Corporation. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the ten-day training for fisheries officials on recent developments in engineering techniques for aqua farms’ here, he said that Kerala had a separate wing of engineers attached to the fisheries department. There was a requirement for such a wing in Karnataka also. Mr. Shetty said that presently engineers from other government departments were implementing the projects of fisheries department. Transfer of engineers was delaying the projects taken up by the fisheries department. A dedicated engineering wing within the fisheries department would help in the timely completion of projects, he noted. Mr. Shetty said that deep sea fishing had reached a stage of stagnation and in-land fisheries or aqua farming was picking up now. K.M. Shankar, Dean (Fisheries), College of Fisheries, Mangalore, said that there was a need for advanced technologies in aqua fish farming. Harvest technology was one of them. Catching fish using net was a traditional technology. Other harvesting devices were required to provide options in harvesting for fish farmers. New technologies in cage farming were also required. Lakshman Nandagiri, Professor, Department of Applied Mechanics and Hydraulics, National Institute of Technology Surathkal, said that any advances in technology should ensure minimum hazard for environment. Long term implications would have to be borne in mind while developing technologies. S. Varadaraju, co-ordinator of the training and an Associate Professor (fisheries engineering and technology), College of Fisheries, said that the training would cover topics such as selection of sites for aqua farming, design and construction of farms, methods to be adopted to plug water leakage from aqua farms, quantity of water required for aqua farms. In addition, the participants would be informed about gadgets to be used for pumping water, equipment to be used for oxygen supply, re-use of water from aqua farms, cage farming and the like. He said that the selection of sites was very important for achieving profit in aqua farming. Unless the aqua farms were constructed scientifically the farmers would suffer loss, he said. The training was being imparted under a scheme of the National Fisheries Development Board.
2017, The Hindu.