The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) here organised an expert consultation meeting on ‘Water-resilient aquaculture: Vision for 2050’ on Friday. The meeting was inaugurated by former Director, CIFRI, Barrackpore Dr KK Vass.
CIFA Director Dr P Jayasankar said the focus of the expert consultation was to predict the water availability by 2050, efficient and productive utilisation of water for aquaculture and development of new strategies for water-resilient fish culture.
The experts expressed their views about freshwater availability at 2050 and offered their valuable suggestions for development of aquaculture. They pointed out that water is the elixir of all life and it has no alternative in the world.
In the recent days, it has become scarcer, and the indiscriminate consumption of water for various sectors is posing a great threat for this extremely indispensable natural resource.
Sociologists predict that in the future there will be a world war for water. Water is considered as a liquid treasure for a nation.
The available surface water in India is degrading and becoming unfit for direct human consumption. The aquaculture industry is heavily dependent on the availability of surface water.
Climate change not only affects the water resources but also have an adverse impact on fish physiology, reproduction and growth, they said.
Aquaculture should develop into a water-resilient practice since water is going to be the most important constraint in another 10 to 20 years down the line, the experts viewed.
The experts from different disciplines included Dr Vass; Dr VV Sugunan, former Assistant Director General (Inland Fisheries), ICAR, New Delhi; Dr Arunabha Mitra, Professor, Aquaculture Engineering Section, IIT, Khargpur; Dr S Pasupalak, Professor and Head of Dept of Agricultural Meteorology, OUAT, Bhubaneswar; Dr Balram Panigrahi, Professor and Head, Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, CAET, OUAT; and Dr lM Garnayak, Chief Agronomist, AICRP on IFS, OUAT.
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