Ornamental Fish Festival to be Held in Punjab Today

College of Fisheries (COF), Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), is going to organize an ‘Ornamental Fish Festival’ on July 28, 2022.

Ornamental fish enhances the surrounding ambiance of any place with its stress-relieving aesthetic presence and hence, its popularity among hobbyists/pet lovers is increasing day by day, said Dr. Meera D. Ansal, Dean, COF.

Ornamental fisheries is an upcoming vibrant sector in Punjab with diverse entrepreneurial/business opportunities all over India and is being promoted by the university through its various capacity-building programs.

This festival will be the first of its kind, which will bring various stakeholders, including students, fisheries professionals, hobbyists/pet lovers, aspiring entrepreneurs and traders, together for interaction and exchange of ideas, besides promoting the sector with eye-catching aquaria display concepts, she added.

The ornamental fish festival will be organized under ICAR-funded STUDENT READY- Experiential Learning Program (ELP) on Ornamental Fisheries operational in COF, informed Dr. Vaneet Inder Kaur, Principal Scientist, and ELP In-charge.

Under ELP, final year B.F.Sc. students were trained in different aspects related to ornamental fisheries, including culture, breeding and seed production of different varieties of ornamental fishes and fabrication of different types of fish aquaria with/without natural aquatic plants.

After successful completion of ELP, now the students are ready with their products (ornamental fish, aquarium and ornamental plants), which will be showcased and sold by them in the forthcoming Festival.

It will be coordinated by Dr. Vaneet Inder Kaur and ornamental fisheries expert, Dr. Sachin Onkar Khairnar.

Dr. Inderjeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU, is impressed that there is an utter need to organize these kinds of events to vitrine the novel ideas of young minds so that they can reinforce their entrepreneurial aptitude with a broader outlook and skills to develop an effectual domestic market for their products.