Kochi: The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) presented the inaugural Nandakumar Rao Memorial Awards established to recognise the best technical staff of the institute. Dr Suresh Kumar Mojjada, Assistant Chief Technical Officer at the Veraval Regional Station and HM Bhint, Technical Assistant at the same station were the recipients of the awards this year. Dr B Meenakumari, former Chairperson of the National Biodiversity Authority presented them with accolades. The awards were constituted in commemoration of the late Nandakumar Rao, Senior Technical Assistant at CMFRI.
You may also like to read: Experts call for continued biotech interventions to harness the full potential of GM cotton in India
CMFRI Director, Dr A Gopalakrishnan presided over the function of presenting the Nandakumar Rao Memorial Awards. Dr P Vijayagopal, Dr Grinson George, Dr VVR Suresh, Hareesh Nair and KS Sreekumaran were present on the occasion.
What is CMFRI?
Over a span of more than 75 years, ICAR-CMFRI has established itself as a foremost research institute in tropical marine fisheries worldwide. Since its inception, CMFRI has experienced considerable growth in both size and reputation, bolstering its research infrastructure and attracting qualified personnel. In its initial five decades, the institute focused on crucial areas such as estimating marine fisheries landings and effort, classifying marine organisms, and understanding the bio-economic dynamics of exploited finfish and shellfish stocks. This research played a pivotal role in transforming India’s marine fisheries sector from a predominantly subsistence-based artisanal fishery to a sophisticated, multi-gear, and multi-species fisheries landscape.
Among CMFRI’s notable accomplishments is the development and refinement of the ‘Stratified Multistage Random Sampling Method,’ a distinctive approach for estimating fishery catch and effort along the extensive 8000 km coastline. Through this methodology, the institute operates the National Marine Fisheries Data Centre (NMFDC), housing over 9 million records of catch and effort data spanning all maritime states of India and encompassing more than 1000 species targeted by fisheries.
