Importance and Responsibilities attached with the profession of an Aqua Culturist

An Aqua Culturist is a Professional who is involved in the oragnised capturing of the aquatic animals (particularly fish) in a scientific manner. These aquatic animals may be both from fresh water as well as sea water bodies. Aqua culturists are responsible for catching, processing, marketing and conservation of fish. These professionals are also involved in farming and husbandry of important fishes and aquatic organisms in fresh water, brackish water and any marine environment as well. In today scenario when due to increasing population on the earth thereby depleting land resources there is a great need of sea sources for the food and other consumables for the man kind from the sea Thus there is great need of the professionals who could restore the existing source and develop the new methods by using the fisheries sciences.
The fast developing fishery industry provides employment not only to the traditional fishermen, but also to the highly skilled personnel engaged in the scientific breeding and management of fisheries. The scope in the field of fishery science is increasing with the development of aquaculture. Because of the country's expansive natural resources, dynamic entrepreneurial skills, this profession is advantageous to the Indian economy too.

Young people with desire and capacity for hard work can get both money and satisfaction in this ever expending profession involving new and scientific methods. But to adopt this profession in right sense and excel one need to have special non- conventional type of education along with aptitude to live in aquatic surrounding for long times.

To be an Aqua Culturist one has to undergo one or more of the following Courses
1. 4 year degree course B.F.Sc

Eligibility

1. Educational Qualification
Candidates who wish to apply for Bachelor of Fisheries Science bachelor’s degree should have passed 10+2 or equivalent examination with biology as the of the main subjects relevant subjects preferably with 50% marks.

Step 1
Interested candidate has to appear in an all India level common entrance test conducted by ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), New Delhi.

However some colleges/universities also give admission on the basis of % of marks obtained in the qualifying examinations.

Step 2
After completing B.F. Sc., one can take M.F.Sc. which is of 2 year duration. (Masters of Fisheries Science). After getting a professional degree in Fisheries Science, one can goes into research- oriented activities also.

Eligibility

1. Educational Qualification
To get admission to above Master’s level degree course students should have passed Bachelors courses in relevant topics with at least 50% marks in aggregate.

Step 1
Interested candidate has to appear in an entrance tests conducted by the various Universities providing 2-3 years of Master’s degree courses

However some universities also give admission on the basis of % of marks obtained in the qualifying class

Step 2
After completing this 2 years of course in which one has to go through all the major aspects of Fishery Science like capture, culture and post harvest technology.

After completion of the Education a Fishery Culturist one can work for a variety of Governmental and non-Governmental organization.

Area of Scope and remuneration for the persons adopting this career.
Enormous employment opportunities are available for Aqua Culturist in private as well as public sector organisations. Like the government sector, a fisheries graduate can apply for the post of Assistant Fisheries Development Officer (AFDO)/ Fisheries Extension Officer (FEO) and District Fisheries Development Officer. Various opportunities in Central government agencies are in Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Fisheries survey of India (FSI), NIO, and WHO etc.

Remunerations and Monetary Gains
As far as remunerations of an Aqua Culturist are concerned one can get anything between 15,000 to 20,000 as far as a starter is concerned. After gaining some on job experience one can earn as good as 25,000 per month and more. If one goes for his own business he can earn in lakhs. However it depends upon the efforts of an individual.