Press Report

The two day International conference on “Emerging issues in Quality and Safety of Fish and Shellfish”organized by the Department of Fish Quality Assurance and Management, Fisheries College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Fisheries University(TNFU) conducted at TAG Auditorium, Anna University, Guindy, Chennai in collaboration with Institute of Ocean Management, Anna University, Chennai came to an end today. 119 professors, scientists and research scholars from countries like USA, Australia, China, Thailand, Sri lanka and various central and state fisheries organizations of India participated in the conference. They presented their papers in the areas like fish quality,fish safety ,fish authentication and marine nutraceuticals.

Mr. Gagandeep Singh Bedi,IAS, Secretary –Agriculture,Animal Husbandary,Dairy and Fisheries-Govt of Tamilnadu,gave the valedictory address.He enlightened the role played by fish in providing food and nutritional security and the importance of Fish quality and safety. He told that Govt of Tamilnadu is supporting the infrastructure development of the fisheries sector to the tune of over 1100 crores in the last five years. Yesterday the conference was inaugurated by Dr. J. K. Jena, Deputy Director General (Fisheries), ICAR, New Delhi. In his inaugural address, he stressed the need for quality awareness in domestic fish trade with equal importance of that of export trade. Dr. K. Rathnakumar, Acting vice-Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Fisheries University in his presidential address elaborated the significance of fish preservation and maintenance of hygienic standards to be maintained in marine and inland fish.

On this occasion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between TNFU and Prince of Songkla University, Thailand to undertake collaborative research or student and faculty exchange programme.

Further, the conference recommended the following resolutions,

  • Climate changes, emerging antibiotic resistance pathogens and changing consumer demands are the important parameters to be considered while formulating quality and safety standards for fish and fishery productsin domestic as well as export sector and enforcing them through government regulations.
  • Research programmes may be undertaken keeping traceability as an important tool to prevent seafood fraud and also to
  • Explorative research on nutraceuticals and bioactive molecules from marine organisms especially from fish, shellfish and seaweeds may be carried out for better utilization of marine organisms for human health
  • Aquaculture farmers should adopt HACCP & GMP to tackle hazards related to the use of pesticides and antibiotics in the ponds to ensure the safer fish and fishery products for domestic consumption and export.
  • New packaging methodologies and materials are to be introduced to cope up with the issues arised regarding quality and safety of fish and fishery products

In the end Dr. R. Jeya Shakila, Organising Secretary delivered the Vote of Thanks.