The Asian Fisheries Society’s India branch will organise a three-day symposium as part of its silver jubilee celebrations in Mangalore on December 3-6.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday, Shankar, Dean of the Mangalore-based College of Fisheries, said the symposium will be on ‘Aquatic resources for eradicating hunger and malnutrition: Opportunities and challenges.’

The symposium aims to bring together specialists from the fields of nutrition, medicine, aquatic resource management, aquaculture, food processing and marketing, and policy makers. The objective of the symposium is to highlight the significant accomplishments already made, and to develop strategies collectively towards eradicating hunger and malnutrition from society, he said.

B.A. Shamsunder, convenor of the symposium, said the strategies to create awareness on the health benefits of eating fish to overcome malnutrition will be discussed.

Malnutrition in various countries, including Maldives and Bangladesh, will be discussed in detail. Hussain Rasheed Hassan, Minister of State for Fisheries and Agriculture, Republic of Maldives, will address the gathering.

Stating that many families of fishermen are devoid of nutrition, he said there will be a paper on nutritional status of fisherwomen.

Nearly 100 international delegates and 500 delegates from India are expected to attend the symposium, Shamsunder said.

Anand V. Asnotikar, Karnataka Minister for Fisheries, will inaugurate the symposium on December 3.

B. Meena Kumari, Deputy Director General (Fisheries), and C. Renuka Prasad, Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka Veterinary, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Sciences University, will be present, he added.

2012, The Hindu Business Line