The Hon’ble Prime Minister has declared August 23rd as "National Space Day" to commemorate the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. The theme for the inaugural National Space Day-2024 is “Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga.”
In this connection, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Fisheries, Government of India, directed the Chennai Base of the Fishery Survey of India (FSI), in association with the Department of Fisheries, Government of Tamil Nadu, to celebrate "National Space Day-2024" on August 7th, 2024, by organizing a workshop titled “Application of Space Technology in the Fisheries Sector” at FSI, Royapuram, Chennai, in hybrid mode.
The workshop commenced with a welcome address by Dr. C. Babu, Scientist, FSI, Chennai, who welcomed the gathering and emphasized that remote sensing technology is a valuable resource for fisheries and oceanographic studies. Shri A. Tiburtius, Zonal Director, FSI, Chennai, delivered the presidential and keynote address, highlighting how remote sensing techniques aid in the identification of Potential Fishing Zones (PFZ), fish stock assessment, and habitat modeling of larger pelagics.
The inaugural session was followed by technical sessions. Dr. K.N. Babu, Scientist from ISRO-SAC, Ahmedabad, delivered a lecture on “Potential Fishing Zones through remote sensing”. The demonstration of the transponder was conducted by Shri. Srikanth from COM-NAV System for the Marine Domain, Bengaluru.
The celebration continued with felicitation addresses by Shri. Senthil Kumar, Asst Director, Department of Fisheries, Government of Tamil Nadu, Shri A. Ravichandran, CIFNET, and Dr. Arun Jenish, Assistant Professor, Dr. M.G.R. Fisheries and Research Institute, Ponneri and Shri. Kadalar Velayutham, Fishermen Representative from Kasimedu.
The event concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Shri Y. Tharumar, Scientist, FSI, Chennai. The program was attended by around 400 participants, including local fishermen, college students, researchers, representatives from CIFNET, ICAR-CMFRI, ICAR-CIBA, state Government officials, Sagar Mitras, and others.