Once there was a time when the city of Mangalore felt pride in being the centre of India’s only fisheries college. Way back in the year 1969 when agricultural revolution was in its budding days, fisheries too witnessed a huge facelift. The result was the construction of the College of Fisheries in Mangalore, the first of its kind fisheries college in India. But sadly enough, the present generation has only witnessed the sheer state of despicability surrounding the college. It is a sight which no more fills any Mangalorean’s heart with pride.
The college which is affiliated to the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, is a desolate and sordidly neglected seat of learning. The cracked walls, broken windows, leaky roofs, unclean campus and the pothole riddled roads clearly exhibit the current state of affairs in the institution.
It is claimed that over the past few decades, the college has not seen a single work of renovation, upgradation or construction in its premises. Sadly, the college even lacks a proper compound wall to confine its boundaries which has enabled an easy passage for outsiders and trespassers to utilize the college compound for various unwanted and unfair practices.
Ironically, this is the only college in India that boasts of the Fish Processing Technology (FPT) laboratory. This fact has made the college an annual hotspot for fisheries students from all around the nation to assemble here in order to learn about this essential fisheries technology. But sadly enough, ever since the college’s inception, FPT laboratory’s equipments have neither been changed nor been upgraded.
Seven college blocks are present in Kankanady near Yekkur while six hostel building blocks are located at Hoige Bazar. This huge facility which is the seat of as many as 172 students in their quest to learn fisheries is also going low in terms of the number faculty members. It has been alleged that many of the faculty posts are lying vacant over the past few years.
The college is indeed a critical lifeline for the fisheries education in the state of Karnataka. In spite of its seemingly desolate state, it still continues to be a hotbed for fisheries education and development. The college offers Bachelors and Masters Course in Fisheries Sciences as well as PhDs in Aquaculture, Fishery Microbiology, Fisheries Environment and Ecology, Fish Processing Technology and Fishery Engineering.
Recently the college has received some good news owing to the allocation of funds for the sake of its development and renovation. The Karnataka state government has allocated as much as 40 million rupees for the sake of its face-lifting process. Moreover, the Union government too has sanctioned 10 million rupees for upgrading and renovating the equipments of the FPT laboratory.
The eminent professors of the college have said, “The College requires more funds in order to construct a new building dedicated to postgraduate research besides housing a museum and an aquarium. The new facilities of the aquarium and museum will assist the education of students on subjects related to aquatic life more effectively.”
Tags:
Fisheries College
Education And Development
Important Of Fish Processing Technology
