Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Mar 13: The ‘Biotech Innovation Centre for Aqua Marine' announced by chief minister B S Yediyurappa, is a part of the blue economy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had mentioned in the past.

The centre is specifically meant to encourage manufacture of light food by using the bio active compound extracted from the seaweed. This kind of center has not been instituted anywhere in the country so far. Experts say that the centre has been proposed on the lines of the marine biotech centre mentioned in the Blue Economy Policy released by the department of geology of the central government.

Representational image

The Prime Minister had some time back spoken about blue economy, sea seed, ports development etc. Even though a biotech innovation centre has been proposed at Jamnagar, Gujarat, it has not yet come up. The centre is proposed to be set up here at a cost of Rs 6 crore and Rs 2.5 crore has been set aside. The fisheries department here is not aware of the purpose of this grant and the experts at the fisheries college feel that this centre may help to utilise water resources of the sea in a better way.

Dean of the fisheries university, Dr Senthil Vel, feels that such a centre is very much necessary as Karnataka does not have enough research centres for exploring sea resources. He also believes that this centre can develop crops which can be grown in vast land that has been rendered useless due to the encroachment of saline water of the sea.