The BFSc degree programme in the College has thus started with effect from the academic year 1987- 88. The necessity of starting a formal education in fishery science was felt to cater to the technical manpower need on the subject, for meaningful and justified utilization of the vast aquatic potential of the North Eastern Region as a whole. North east India is endowed with high potential aquatic resources. The North Eastern (N.E.) India represents approximately 33% of total 2,163 freshwater fish species of India. So far, 267 fish species belonging to 114 genera have been reported from the N.E. region.

The vast aquatic resource potential and the prevailing agro-climatic conditions of the Region, however, do not reflect any impact on the production profile of fish and its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product of the Region. Thus it had necessitated the building up of technical manpower on the subject to enable the Region to manage and exploit its aquatic resources in a scientific manner. The entire Region is deficient in fish production while immense scope exists to boost up the level of production with concomitant generation of employment avenues. The concept of starting the academic programme was thus to meet the necessity.

The ICAR Accreditation Committee initially suggested to start the academic programme at the campus of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Khanapara, utilizing available infrastructure there. However, considering various aspects, Govt. of Assam suggested to shift the site to the present location at Raha. The present site of the college is located at a distance of 27 km. west of Nagaon, the headquarter of Nagaon district on the National Highway 37; and 100 km towards east of the state capital Guwahati.

Growth of Institution

The College of Fisheries started the academic programme with a 4-year course syllabus, duly approved by the Academic Council of the University in the academic year 1987-88; containing 143 credits. This syllabus contained courses for the students enrolled during 1997-98. Thereafter, the new syllabus framed under the guidelines of the Deans’ Committee constituted by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is implementing from time to time as and when framed. Initially the College although framed the syllabus to be composed of courses under six major departments. At present the College is having seven (7) designated departments as per ICAR recommendation and they are-

1) Aquaculture.

2) Fisheries Resource Management.

3) Aquatic Environment Management

4) Fish Processing Technology.

5) Fish Engineering.

6) Fisheries Extension, Economics and Statistics

There had been no appreciable growth of physical facilities, in the history of the College since inception to 2010. But after 2010 development of new infrastructures for the College is geared up and at present the infrastructure of the College is at per national level.

With regards to student intake capacity, the number of seats was fixed at 20 for male students for initial couple of years. But due to demand the introduction of girls’ students had been made from the year 2005. Again with the development of infrastructure and also demand for the human resource in the N.E. region the intake capacity of the College is increased to 25 from 2015. To cater to the need of human resource at higher level the college opened the M.F.Sc. course in Aquaculture, Fisheries Resource Management and in Aquatic Environment Management with intake capacity 5, 4 and 4. Apart from that the College is also offering Ph.D. in Aquaculture from the year 2015. For getting admission into various degree courses one may see the Assam Agricultural University website www.aau.ac.in. The teaching staff is the capital strength to maintain the academic standard at par with other colleges of the country and thus students not only from the N.E. Region but also from states like Odissa, Kerala and other North Eastern States are studying in this College. Further, the teaching staffs are often associated with various training activities of the Directorate of Fisheries; State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD), National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad and Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI). It is worth mentioning that efforts of the College with assistance of the NFDB have resulted in documentation of fish diseases in Assam, livelihood promotion through fish drying and fish product (pickle) development in the state, fish seed raising in beels in low cost cages for stocking in the wetlands of Assam in order to create and enhance fishers’ alternative livelihood, development of management policy for native fish species Gudusia chapra in beels of Assam etc. It would be worth mentioning that the present fish seed policy of Assam was developed by the College of Fisheries, AAU, Raha. The College although cannot claim to achieve the mandate in full strength, it has reached a point by creating a cadre of trained man power for the region and given opportunities, it would be able to fulfill the goals set for the institution.

Mandate of the institution

The mandate of the College of Fisheries is to generate human resource in the field of fishery science and to carry out the mandatory responsibility of exercising the tasks of teaching, research and extension programme with relevance to the North Eastern Region of India.

Mission Statement

The mission of the College of Fisheries is to explore the knowledge and create a cadre of properly trained technical manpower to transfer the technology of fisheries management and allied aquaculture in the N.E. Region of India for proper utilization of the vast aquatic resource potential and thereby enhance the socio- economic status and standard of living of the farming communities with concomitant increase of Gross Domestic Product of the Region.

Goals

To achieve the stated mission of the College of Fisheries, the goals of the institute are specified hereunder.

• To explore the new frontier of knowledge in fisheries.

To provide quality education and training in areas of fisheries, aquaculture and allied sectors to transfer the technologies in the Region.

• To undertake basic, applied and adoptive research to redress the technological deficiencies of fisheries management, aquaculture and allied sectors for improving the socio- economic conditions of the people of the Region.

"Objectives

• To produce graduates in fishery science, who would extend services in government; non¬government organizations; private companies; banking and insurance sectors or related fields and also take up self-employment in fishery sectors.

• To provide opportunities to the students for higher studies leading to post- graduate and Ph. D. degrees.

• To play leadership role in disseminating the advanced technologies for the benefit of the community.

• To explore the advancement of knowledge in fisheries in order to educate the students to understand the basic, applied and adoptive research in fisheries to redress the technological deficiencies of the users of the Region.