Stepping up their pressure on the government to establish a fisheries university in the city the fishermen launched a signature campaign here on Saturday.
They signed a huge flex erected near the office of Deputy Director of Fisheries at the Old Port to draw the attention of the government to their demand.
The flex had mentioned the benefits the fishermen would get from establishing the university.
One among the signatories Shashi Kumar Bengre, president, Karnataka Purse-seine Fishermen’s Association, said that the College of Fisheries at Yekkur which has about 75 acres of campus should be carved out of the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University (KVAFSU), Bidar, and upgraded as a fisheries university.
The university has given least importance for developing fisheries sector through the college, he said.
Mr. Bengre said that marine fisheries contributed a major share in the fisheries sector. Hence there is no point in keeping the sector under the KVAFSU and controlling the college from Bidar which is far away.
The president said that in addition to helping the children of fishermen academically, a separate university for fisheries sector can also provide technical inputs in port construction, post-harvest processing. It can also provide technical inputs on preventing marine pollution, marketing, new entrepreneurship avenues, preservation techniques, and the like.
He said though many education institutes of the government, which are more than 50 years old, have been upgraded as universities, the 52-year-old College of Fisheries, the first such college established in the country, has not been made an university catering to the specific sector. Though other states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have fisheries universities, Karnataka lacked one.
The campaign was also supported by Mangaluru Trawl Boat Fishermen and Gilnet Fishermen.
Fishermen have been demanding a separate fisheries university since last year.