Aquaculture & Fisheries

Biography

Prof. Nihar Ranjan Chattopadhyay is attached to West Bengal University of Animal & FisherySciences , Kolkata , West Bengal , India since 1994 as Professor of Aquaculture . Prof. Chatterjee has developed many innovative technology in the hatchery sector as evidenced from the list of 50 no.. publications in national & international journals . Recently prof. Chatterjee has been selected Honorary fellow of the Singapore Institute of Aquaculture and invited to speak at the Conference to be held on 8th & 9th oct. 2015. Reviewer & member of of editorial board of a no. International journals. Written five books on fisheries &aquaculture and most recent one will be Published by Elsevier.

Research Interest

Standardization of Induced Breeding Technology when the natural source ( rivers ) is declining fast due to pollution and other anthropogenic activities . Misappropriation starts primarily with the transfer of technology , not following the rules of transfer and complete absence of any follow up action during 50 years of its implementation in the field. As I have noticed , realizing the short term huge profit , peoples from diverse sectors started establishing hatchery by learning the technology from illiterate neighboring fish breeders . I was really astonished to learn that technology transferred to other states when illiterate farmers visited Bengal hatcheries ( primary establishment) while in some states the entire hatchery operation is still conducted by hired illiterate fish breeders of Bengal . This unscientific and profit making approaches from the very beginning has led to the development of a series of genetic consequences like inbreeding , introgression , genetic drift and ultimately contamination of the native gene pool when the hatchery raised fishes find their way into natural habitat . Mixed spawning , indiscriminate hybridization , use of undersized fish as broods , absence stock replenishment , culling , pedigree record already drifted the technology far away from its qualitative aspects . Along with these the fish breeders of Bengal introduced exotic species from different parts of the world namely Thai magur , African magur , Pangasid cat fish and lastly Pacu from Amazon . The fish breeders , being very much innovative , not only standardize the technology but most of the leading carp hatcheries were transformed into cat fish hatcheries . Capture of deformed fish both from hatchery and wild , large scale mortality at spawn and fry stage , development of crooked spawn are very much indicative of an overall genetic threat not only to cultured fishes but also the native fauna like Labeo rohita , Catla catla and Cirrhinus mrigala . Immediate population genetic study covering vast geographical territories using specific biotechnological procedures like RAPD fingerprinting etc. may help protect the prized fishes of India.