ICAR approves teaching Aquatic Medicine for BFSc at national level

MANGALURU: From next academic year onwards, ‘Aquatic Medicine’ will be a part of the curriculum in 20 fisheries colleges across the nation, said K M Shankar, dean and course director, College of Fisheries, Mangaluru.
He said that the College of Fisheries, Mangaluru under Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University (KVAFSU) has already adopted Aquatic Medicine for undergraduate courses in its campus from 2013.“The College of Fisheries took the lead in introducing ‘Teaching and Research in Aquatic Medicine’ with the help of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), New Delhi for the first time in Asia. The teaching in Aquatic Medicine, which includes Pharmacology, Toxicology and Chemotherapy, for the undergraduate BFSc programme has been approved at the national level by the ICAR from 2016,” Shankar said adding that colleges will commence teaching aquatic medicine from next academic year.
Development of monoclonal antibodies based field level kits for detection of antibiotic residues in fish and research on pharmacokinetics of antibiotics in shrimp are some of the recent efforts of the college in this direction, Shankar said.
Talking about the scenario in India, he said that the nation produces 10 million tons of fish a year. About 30 years ago, fish production was mainly (90%) form mechanized fishing, with a small contribution (10%) was from aquafarming. A significant change has occurred in the last two decades, where aquafarming has grown at 7-8%, and at present total production is 54%. Aquafarming includes rearing of fish, crustaceans, molluscs for food, ornamental and sports purposes. Currently, 23 lakh acres is under aquafarming for fish and shellfish production in fresh, brackish and marine waters of India. Besides meeting the country’s fish demand (per capita consumption of 9kg/year), aqua products export earn annually to the tune of Rs 32,000 crore, Shankar said.
“While aquafarming sector grows, microbial diseases are a stumbling block. Annually, India is losing more than Rs 1,000 crore due to diseases in aquaculture. Farmers are using antibiotics, drugs, chemicals, and pesticides, residues of which in fish is a concern from both fish and consumers’ safety point of view. Use of drugs in aquafarming is not regulated properly mainly due to lack of education and research. Mode of action and pharmacokinetics of the drugs and antibiotics in cold blooded vertebrates/ invertebrates is entirely different compared to warm blooded vertebrates. Hence, introducing aquatic medicine is a new area of venture in fisheries education and research,” Shankar said.
KVAFSU in association with National Fisheries Development Board of the Government of India will hold 15 days national training programme on ‘Aquatic Medicine’ at the College of Fisheries in Mangaluru from February 8, he added.