Government Institutes

The National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources (NBFGR) was established in 1983 and has emerged as a Center of Excellence in cataloguing and conserving aquatic bioresources of India. The Bureau has developed modern facilities, multidimensional strategies and technological capabilities to achieve its mandate related to database development, genotyping, registration of aquatic germplasm, genebanking and evaluation of endangered and exotic fish species.

The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Agriculture in 1947 became a member of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) family in 1967. The headquarters was shifted from Mandapam Camp to Cochin in 1971. With the fast changing marine fisheries scenario and emergence of mariculture as a viable proposition for enhancing the production , the Institute over the years has tuned its mandate in consonance with the needs of the time.

The Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) set up in 1954 is the only national center in the country where research in all disciplines relating to fishing and fish processing is undertaken. The institute started functioning at Cochin in 1957. Research centers function at Veraval (Gujarat), Visakhapatnam (AP), Burla (Orissa), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Calicut (Kerala) and Hoshangabad (MP).

Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), the only Deemed University for fisheries in India, is the institution of higher learning for fisheries science. CIFE has over four decades of leadership in HRD with its alumni fuelling the development of fisheries and aquaculture world wide, and has notable research and technological advancements to its credit.

The Central Inland Capture Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI) is the oldest premier research institution in the field of inland fisheries research and training in India. Established initially as Central Inland Fisheries Research Station by the Govt. of India at Calcutta in 1947, it assumed the status of an Institute and shifted to Barrackpore (North 24-Parganas, West Bengal) in 1959. The Institute came under the administrative control of Indian Council of Agricultural Research in October 1967.

In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-sections (i) and (3) of Section 4 of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act, 2005, the Central Government established the Coastal Aquaculture Authority vide Notification No. S.O. 1803 (E) dated 22 December 2005. The head office of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority is located at Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Justice A K Rajan (Retired Judge of the Madras High Court) is the chairperson of the Authority.

The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) is a premier Institute in freshwater aquaculture in the country under the administrative control of the ICAR, New Delhi. The present Institute has had its beginnings in the Pond Culture Division of Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute which was established at Cuttack, Orissa in 1949 with a view to finding solutions to problems of fish culture in ponds and village tanks. Later, the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, based at Barrackpore, West Bengal in a major effort to give emphasis to freshwater aquaculture research, initiated steps on establishing the Freshwater Aquaculture Research and Training Centre (FARTC) over 147 ha campus at Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar, Orissa.

Advent of commercial shrimp aquaculture has made more shrimp available to the processing sector, enabling it to make better use of plant capacity and diversify into value-added products. CIBA in its efforts at development of standardized technologies for brackishwater aquaculture has already made a mark both at the marginal farmers' and corporate sector levels. CIBA's PCR kit has been commercialized and has found ready acceptance at the field level while technologies such as low intensity shrimp farming and crab fattening have been accepted by the small farming community especially in the post tsunami days.