Report on official inaugration of green army activities (2019-20)

A study trip was organized on 16th July 2019 for 5BCZ and 5CBZ students to the Fisheries Research and Information Centre (FRIC), Hesaraghatta as a part of their practical syllabus in Aquatic Biology accompanied by Dr Krishna Kumar V and Dr Mridul Umesh. Fisheries Research and Information Centre (FRIC) is a unit established in the year 1960 by Govt. of Karnataka as a Fisheries Research Station and got transferred to University of Agricultural Sciences Bengaluru in 1966. It is a part of Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University since 2005 and was re-nominated as Fisheries Research & Information Centre. It is located adjacent to the Hesaraghatta Lake, which is about 38 km away from the Bengaluru city. The visit was spearheaded by Dr Ravindragouda Patil, who briefed about the objectives of the institute, and highlighted the various steps involved in culture fisheries. Dr Patil described the shortcomings of the capture fisheries sector and explained the breeding techniques used for the culture of the Indian major carps at the institute.  The research centre housed facilities like breeding tanks, stocking tanks and integrated aquaculture (duck- cum- fish and poultry- cum- fish) systems and has diverse array of aquatic animals ranging from goldfishes, mollies, guramis to swordtails, bettas and a soft-shelled turtle. The students had a fruitful interaction with Dr Patil and were benefited from his expertise about the intricacies and the importance of care, prudence and aInauguration of Green Army activities for the academic year 2019-2020 was held on June 29, 2019 A lecture on Wild life conservation was delivered by Mr. Gowrie Shankar, a wildlife biologist studying king cobras for close to two decades. Several wildlife documentaries like the King Cobra and I, Secrets of the King Cobra, One million snake bites, Deadliest snakes and Cobra King screened in the channels like the BBC, Discovery, NatGeo Wild and Animal Planet explains the contribution of the speaker Mr. Gowrie Shankar to the field of wild life conservation. Mr. Gowrie Shankar enlightened the audience about the phytogeography of king cobras across South East Asia. He shared his experience working at premier organizations like the Centre for Herpetology, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and also at the Agumbe Rainforest Research Station, Agumbe. He shared his experience on how he has rescued and relocated over 350 king cobras from distress situations and monitored over 35 king cobra nests. Green Army activities were explained to the gathering. The students were encouraged and motivated to participate in all the upcoming activities of Green Army emphasizing the conservation of nature and wildlife.patience in the aquaculture industry.