Expert committee to explore possibility of setting up fisheries varsity

Stakeholders of the fisheries sector in the coastal districts had urged the government to upgrade the college as an independent university

The state government has constituted a committee to look into the possibility of upgrading the College of Fisheries into a Fisheries University in Mangaluru.

The expert committee is expected to submit the report after analysing the pros and cons of carving the college from Bidar-based Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University (KVAFSU), to set up a separate fisheries university in Mangaluru.

The nine-member committee is headed by the commissioner of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services. The director of the Directorate of Fisheries is its member-secretary. Prof I Karunasagar, senior director (retd) and advisor (research and patents), Nitte Deemed to be University, is co-chairman of the committee.

Members of the committee are the chief executive officer of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, the director of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, registrar of University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Bengaluru, registrar of Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar, dean of Fisheries College, Mangaluru; Dr Anjanappa, head of Fisheries College, Mangaluru.

The committee has been asked to submit a report by January 31, 2022, declares an order issued by B N Praveen, Under Secretary to Government, Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries.

Stakeholders of the fisheries sector in the coastal districts had urged the government to upgrade the 52-year-old college as an independent university.

Even the College of Fisheries Alumni Association had submitted a memorandum on October 4, 2021. Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) council too had passed a resolution in August 2021 seeking university status for the college. The agenda tabled in the council had said that the college established at Ekkur in 1969 was the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.

In the past, the college was affiliated to UAS, Bengaluru, and later came under KVAFS in 2005. The minister for fisheries and port had appealed to the chief minister to announce a Fisheries University in the 2021-22 budget with a token grant. The chief minister’s office had directed the Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries to look into the proposal.

The Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner in his report on July 6, 2021, and the director of the fisheries department in a report on July 13, 2021, had stressed the need for setting up a university of fisheries or an autonomous institute in Mangaluru.

Based on the report, the minister for the animal husbandry department had sought permission from the finance department. The finance department in turn had sought a report from the expert committee on setting up a fisheries university.