Cocbin, known as the "Queen of the

Arabian Sea" is the only natural harbour in

South India. Togetber with Ernakulam, situated

on tbe mainland. it is the mo'! picturesque

city in Kerala. With palm-fringed lagoons,

backwaters and a beautiful beacb bordering

one of tbe most productive seas, tbis city

inter olio affords a diversity of environments

for tbe theoretical as well as applied oceanographers

and biologists

Raghu Prasad, R

CMFRI Digital Repository

WELCOME TO COCHIN THE VENUE OF THE SYMPOSIUM ON MOLLUSCA UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF INDIA SOUVE~ltR JANUARY 1968 COCHIN -The Centre of Fisheries and Oceanography Cocbin, known as the "Queen of the Arabian Se." is the only natural harbour in South India. Togetber with Ernakulam, situ-ated on tbe mainland . it is the mo'! pictures-que city in Kerala. With palm-fringed lagoons, backwaters and a beautiful beacb bordering one of tbe most productive seas, tbis city inter olio affords a diversity of environments for tbe theoretical as well as applied oceano-graphers and biologists. Though the coast-line of Kerala is only about 580 kilomet res of the entire Indian coast-line of 5,600 kilometres, tbe annual fisb landings of the State are of tbe tune of three hundred thousand tonnes or nearly olle-third oftbe total fish landings from the seas of India. The west coast of I ndia alone accounts fo r abou~ 80~~ of the country's total marine catch. Naturally during the last one and a balf decades oceanography and fisbery interests bave begun to converge to tbis small city, which has now grown into an important centre of marine research . The following is a brief account of the various institutions engaged in the study of marine sciences. Central Marme Fish eries Re.earch Substation Tbe Central Marine FlSberies Research Institute, Manda pam Camp, now under tbe - R. Raghu Prasad control of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, is the pioneer institute in India tackling the problems of fisheries research and allied subjects 00 an All-India basis This insti-tute started its major Substation at eochin in 1951. Housed in a small rented building, tbe Station began to function with a small band of resea rch workers on the problems connected with prawn fisheries. With tbe tremendous development in the fishing industry. the Sub-station's programmes were intensified and more staff was posted to this Substation and at present it has a strengtb o f 86 inclusive of the auxiliary staff The Substation currently is housed in two rented buildings about 2 kilo-metres apart. In the early stages the investigations conducted at this Substation were confined mainly to tbe coastal areas. But in 1957 oceanographic investigations on a wid<r scale were initiated with M O. KRISTENSEN, one of the fishong vessels of tbe IndO-Norwegian Project made available to the Institute_ By the end of 1957 this vessel was replaced by R . V. KA LAVA which made regular oceano-grapbic cruises along tbe west coast of India Dr. R . Ragbu Prasad is the Deputy Director of Centra1 Marioc Fisheries Research Instilutc, and is in cbarlc of the Substation at Ernakulam. tilll961. Towards the end of 1961 a modern research vessel VARUNA, specially built in Norway for oceanographic inv<stiFations, was made available by theIndo-Norwegian Project and has been regularly conducting fishery and oceanographic research since then. Investi-gations on the various aspects of tbe pelagic and demersal fish resources, hydrography, primary organic production and plankton of the west coast of India and compilation and processing of marine fishery statistics on an All-India basis are the main programmes that are being handled at tbe Substation. Central Institute of Fisheries Technology Sponsored by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Government of India , this Institute started functioning at Cochin in 1957 with the Craft and Gear wing only. In 1958 the Processing Wing was added partly by the transfer of the Chemistry Division of the Central Marine Fisheries Research InstilUte from Mandapam Camp. Now the Head-quarters of the Institute and the Processing Wing are at Ernakulam and the Craft and Gear Wing at Kochangadi. The activities of the Processing Wing cover all aspects, fundamental and applied, of fish processing technology The various research projects undertaken include Chemis-try, Microbiology. Processing and Processing Engineering, Fish Curing, By-Products, Quality Control and Inspection, The Craft and Gear Wing designs boats, conducts investigations on craft . gear, mechanical accessories , fis hing methods and gear materials and also on the engines used in fishing boats This wing has two branches the Gear Branch and the Craft Brancb of which the latter i. now under tbe Ministry of Food and Agriculture wbile all the rest arc under tbe Indian Council of Agri-cultural Research. 5 During the last decade the Institute has taken many rapid strides and has grown in stature and activity. The Institute is also authori sed for the preshipment inspection and quality control of frozen and canned prawns and of frozen frog legs. Offshore Fishing Station Nestled among the fish processing plants in Kocb angadi is the Offshore Fishing Station, a Substation of the Government ofIndia Deep Sea Fish ing Station, Bombay. Tbis station was started in 1957 witb tlie object of explor-ing the fish resources of the continental shelf of the Kerala coast and to determine tbe effective gear and accessories to be em-ployed in fisbing for tbe various types of fisb. Tbe station operat's boats and gears of differ-ent typ~s and train s many young people in the techniql1es of mechanized fishing . Tbe scope of activities of the station incluM advice and guidance to private industries in tbe matter of fishing gear, fisbing tecbnique and allied sub-jects . Central Institute of Fisheries Operatives Tbis Institute was establisbed by the Government of India in 1963 to train oper-atives of different skills in botb tbeoretical and practica I fields suitable to conduct fisbing in tbe bigh seas with the help of larger, modern fishing Heet. All categories of skilled persoDDe] required to man and maintain the bigb sea fishing vessels, such as Skippers, Fishing Mates, Marine Engineers, Electronic Engineers, Gear Technicians, Boat Buildipg Foremen, Shore Mechanics and Radio-tele-pbone Operators are being trained here. "I his International Symposium on Mol-lusca is being held in the salubrious campus of this Institute and the delegates to the Symposium can have a firs t-hand knowledge of the various facets of this Institute and also the dynamism and leadership which is behind this organisation The Indo-Norwegian Project In 1953 an agreement between the Governments of Norway and India and the United Nations lVas signed under which Nor-way IV.IS to con Juct a programme of technical assis ta nce in India The project envisaged mechanisation of fishing boats, provision of repai r facilities , construction of ooe or more ice plants, supply of insulated vans for trans-port of fish. organisation of fishermen's co-operatives, improvement of environmeDtai sanitation with emphasis on the supply of drinking lVater and establishment of a health centre fhe programme commenced in tbe pro-ject area at Neendakara 14 years ago. After a year tbe mechanical worksbop and boat-building yard began production of indigenous mechanised boats. Later for examining the economic asoects of shrimp-trawling, four medium sized boats of 36 feet 1M-boats) were brought from Norway . fhese , together with three exploralOry fishing vessels required har-bour facilities for operation and Cochin naturally was chosen as the most suitable site for tbe location of the Project. In 1956, under a new agreement the present project site facing the Cochin backwaters came into be-ing After 14 years of fru itful Indo-Norwegian co-ope ration the Project Site in Cochin has risen up as a symbol of international co· operation Witb. fteet of fishing vessels conducting exploratory tishing as far out as 800 kilometres and covering the area from Kanyakumari to Goa , this fishing centre is perhaps tbe best in India now. 6 Kerala University Oceauograpby Laboratory The Department of MarineBiology and Fisheries was organised in 1938 at Trivandrum by the erstwhile University of Travancore. In 1940 a neIV building, the present Aquarium at Trivandrum, with laboratory facilities on the first floor was constructed As an offshoot of this, the Oceanography Laboratory was establ ished temporarily in the Naval Base at Willingdon Island in Cochin. In 1962 the Laboratory was shifted to the newly construc-ted building on the Fore-shore Road facing th e Cochin backwaters. The facilities here lOelude Laboratories for biological .nd chemi-cal work, research rooms for scientists and students. reference library, air-condilioncd room for instrumenls, dark-room for photo-graphy, lecture hall , museum, prepar'lion room for biological specimens and a modern hostel. An aquarium for marine and fresh water organisms is also being completed . SlUdies on plankton . bottom fauna, boltom deposits, hydrC" ~raphy of rhe coastal region, as well as taxonomical. morphological, physiologicalond eCOlogical studies on fi,hes and invertebrates are being conducted here. R. V. CONCH, the ftsearch vessel of the Laboratory, was commissioned in 1957. It is a 50-foot,vessel with a 30 ton gross displace-ment and has a cruising range of over 500 kilometres. Thi s vessel is used for training post-graduate and research studen ts in oceanO-graphic work and for morine biological col-lections . The Laboratory publishes a journal "Bulletin of the Department of Marine Bio~ logy and Oceanography" . This Department bas facilities for re-searcb and training in Oceanography and offers courses in Marine Biology and Oceano-grapby leading to the degree of Master of Science. A few students are working towards Ph. D . and D. Sc. degrees also. Indian Naval Physical Laboratory This Laboratory, situated within the Naval Base in Willingdon Island was esta-blished in 1952. Originally formed as an establishment under the Naval Headquarters, tbe Laboratory was absorbed into the Defence Research and Development Organisation in 1958. Tbe Laboratory is thus under the joint control of the Director of Research (Labs) at the R&D Headquarters and that of the Director of Scientific Research (Navy) at the Naval Headquarters. The Laboratory is divided into four research groups viz., Acoustics, Mines, Elec-tronics and Oceanography. The Oceanography Group is responsible for collecting, processing and storing all tbe data about tbe Indian waters that arc of interest to the Navy. The main fields of interest arc oceanographic instrumentation, processing of BT and related oceanographic data necessary for Naval operations. microseisms and studies on waves and swells. National Institnte of Oceanography The latest addition to the group of organizations is tbe National Institute of Oceanography, one of the National Labora-tories under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Researcb. The Institute started functioning from llnuary 1966 taking over all tbe then existing units and activities of the [ndian Ocean Expedition Directorate. Three Divisions of this [nstitute are functioning here now ri. , The Tndian Ocean Biological Centre, Physical Oceanograpby Division and Biologi-cal Oceanog' apby Division. 7 The Indian Ocean Biolooical Centre came into existence as part of the Inter-national Indian Ocean Expedition programme and it receives assistance from the UNEscO. The Centre receives, processes and stores plankton samples collected by tbe research vessels belonging to various countries which participated in the Expedition . Altogether over 2,500 samples have been received by tbis Centre for sorting, whicb is supervised by an UNESCO appointed Curator. Tbe Centre bas developed into one of the important sorting centres in tbe world. The Physical Oceanography Division is bandling mostly problems relating to tbe phy-sics of the Seas around India. It is also en-gaged in the study of bottom topograpby, geology, beach erosion, accretion, sand move-ment, coastal curreDts, storm surges and sea level variations, wave refraction, and statis-tical studies on the chemical and physical cbaracteristic, of the sea water. The Biolooical Oceanography Division is concerned with the bydrography and pri-mary productivity of Co chin backwaters, bydrography of insbore water~, studies on tbe osmo-regulation in crabs and stud ies on inter-stitial f. una Other Institutions The Kerala State Fisheries Department, the Kerala Fisher; es Corporation and thirty and odd fish canning and freezing companies spread over Cochin and the surrounding areas have made this City the nerve ceotre of Fish-eries and Oceanography. 

Cochin - The Centre of Fisheries and Oceanography

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Cochin - The Centre of Fisheries and Oceanography

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