India

By virtue of its geography, varied terrain, and climate, India is blessed with diverse and numerous aquatic ecosystems that support a rich variety of habitats and organisms. It is not surprising therefore, that India is considered one of the world’s 17 “mega diverse” countries in terms of biodiversity. Although Indian inland fisheries have grown steadily, the fish production potential from reservoirs and wetlands that are main pillars of growth is yet to be achieved. Increase in per unit water productivity is aimed from reservoirs and wetlands to bring a blue revolution in inland fisheries. Along with sustainable production, enhancement of fish production, ecosystem and biodiversity management and conservation, futuristic policy measures, infrastructure development, appropriate governance and participatory approach will play major roles in development of the sector. Therefore, this International Conference aims at focusing on ecosystem health of a wide variety of habitats such as rivers, Estuaries, reservoirs, lakes, streams and monsoon ponds and puddles, and inland fisheries with its multiple stressors, management and conservation. It deals with important ecosystem health topics such as climate change, nutrient enrichment, contaminants, invasive species, connectivity, wetlands, biodiversity and all aspects of pollution, degradation and restoration.

The College of Fisheries

The venue of the conference will be the College of Fisheries, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand.

The first Agricultural University of India developed on the Land Grant Pattern of the USA, inaugurated by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the First Prime Minister of India, on 17 November 1960 and regarded as the Harbinger of Green Revolution in India, the university is spread over an area of 16,000 acres with 8 colleges viz., Agriculture, Home Science, Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Technology, Fisheries, Agribusiness Management and Postgraduate Studies. Presently, the University runs 131 Academic Programmes in 60 departments that include Undergraduate (14), Masters (66) and Ph.D (51) levels. With more than 600 faculty members and approximately 5000 students, this fully residential university of 23 hostels, provides advisory support to all students admitted to various degree programmes and follows the basic premise to develop leaders in agricultural education and research. There exist 14 on-campus research stations and 7 out-station research centres and 9 Krishi Vigyan Kendras to cater the needs of Farmers of the country in general and the state in particular and 280 varieties are released so far. Pantnagar University is the only SAU of the country which has won the Prestigious ICAR Outstanding Institution Award twice. The University also received the “Governors’ Best University Award of Uttarakhand” thrice from 2016 to 2018.

The College of Fisheries, established in the year 1985 provides fisheries education at undergraduate, master and doctoral levels. The college has one of the best teaching and research infrastructure in the country in the form of fish farm, hatcheries, feed mill, laboratories, recirculatory systems etc.