Govt to set up fish cryobanks

On the occasion of National Fish Farmers Day, Union Minister Giriraj Singh announced that the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) in association with National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) will set up ‘fish cryobanks’ in different parts of the country.

Cryobanking is the process of cooling and storing cells, tissues, or organs at very low or freezing temperatures to save them for future use.

It will facilitate all time availability of ‘fish sperms’ of desired species to fish farmers.

The ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying said this would be the first time in the world when fish cryobank will be established. It can bring a revolutionary change in the fisheries sector in the country for enhancing fish production and productivity and thereby increasing prosperity among the fish farmers, it said. 

National Fish Farmers Day

The National Fish Farmers Day is celebrated on July 10 every year in remembrance of scientists K.H. Alikunhi and H.L. Chaudhury, who successfully demonstrated the technology of induced breeding (hypophysation) in Indian major carps on July 10, 1957, at the erstwhile ‘Pond Culture Division’ of CIFRI at Cuttack in Odisha, (currently Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, CIFA, Bhubaneswar).

National Fisheries Development Board

The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), established in 2006, is an autonomous organisation under the administrative control of the department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries. 

It was set up to realise the untapped potential of fisheries sector in inland and marine, fish culture, capture, processing and marketing of fish, and accelerate the overall growth of fisheries sector with the application of modern tools of research and development. 

Foreseeing the high potential in the fisheries sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016 called for ‘Blue Revolution’. To realise this vision, the department of animal husbandry, dairying & fisheries in the same year launched the scheme named as ‘Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries’ with a total central outlay of Rs 3,000 crore by merging all the ongoing schemes in fisheries sector.

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