KOCHI;
“The oceans from Arctic to Antarctic are facing threat of pollution”, said Dr. M Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of earth sciences, Government of India.
“Every year 8.8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in oceans which is equal to 80% of marine debris. This is over and above the threat from climate change, pollution and mindless fishing”, he added. He was inaugurating the three day International Conference on marine Benthos ‘ICB 2019’ organised by department of Marine Biology, Micro Biology & Biochemistry.
The existence of mankind is very much dependent on seas. Central government is giving much importance to empowering our marine resources due to its role in varied fronts of human life like production of medicines for fatal diseases like cancer, metals and minerals for high-tech industries,etc,etc.
Steps have been taken by Niti Aayog in this respect. He lauded the role taken by CUSAT School of Marine Sciences in various projects like Deep Ocean Mission. He also expressed the hope that the international training centre in marine taxonomy being set up at CMLRE will give job opportunities for young researchers and augment capacity building in the country.
“Convergence of disciplines should be aimed at”, said Dr. Rajan Gurukkal, Vice Chairman, KSHEC. “Programmes like ICB will help to consolidate all the academic activities under an umbrella. Curiosity being the basis of research, researchers should introspect were they lost it and try to sustain the spirit of research”, he added. CUSAT Finance Officer Dr. Rajitha Kumar presided over the function.
Dr. Graham P Oliver from UK National Museum of Wales delivered the keynote address. Dr. Peter Ng Kee Lin Peter delivered special address. Dr. Aneykutty Joseph, Director, School of Marine Sciences, Dr. M Sudhakar, Director, CMLRE, Dr. Rosamma Philip, Dean, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Dr. P K Abdul Azis, Former Vice Chancellor, CUSAT and AMU, Dr.N Chandramohanakumar, Director, IUCMB, Dr. S Bijoy Nandan, Convenor and Dr. Priyaja spoke.
The function also witnessed the distribution of Prof. N.R. Menon memorial award, Prof. C.V. Kurian memorial award and lifetime achievement award to eminent personalities who have contributed immensely to the study of benthos. The abstract of ICB, souvenir of the 80th anniversary of Marine Sciences and the logo of Benthos Association of India were also released at the function. A marine expo which will run along side the conference for two days, was also inaugurated by Dr. M Rajeevan.
