India, Oman to jointly undertake research on sharks and rays in Arabian Sea

Kochi, May 10:  A  joint initiative between India and Oman to boost research and conservation of sharks and rays in the Arabian Sea will be launched at an upcoming workshop at ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), it was announced on Friday.

Experts from both countries will take part in the workshop which is expected to take place shortly, here, which will take up the collaborative research works and capacity building in elasmobranch research.

CMFRI Director, Dr A. Gopalakrishnan said the upcoming workshop is a joint venture between the CMFRI and the Marine Science and Fisheries Centre of Oman's Directorate General of Fisheries Research as part of a research linkage between the two countries.

"The workshop will lay the foundation for a collaborative future in marine research between the two countries and open avenues for regional management and conservation of iconic resources such as sharks and rays in the Arabian Sea," he said.

"We hope that the collaboration will extend further to other important resources such as tunas, as well as other areas in marine fisheries research, including mariculture and biotechnology," he added.

The CMFRI is the national marine scientific authority for CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

The institute has been running a dedicated research programme on sharks and rays in Indian waters for over a decade, leading to the development of policy advisories, conservation plans and species-specific databases on several shark and ray species of the Indian EEZ.

During the workshop, participants from both countries will share their knowledge and experience of working with sharks and rays in their respective regions.

The research team from Oman will be headed by Dr Khalfan Al Rashdi, Director of the Aquaculture Centre, Directorate General of Fisheries Research, and also the leader of the Rays Project of Oman.

The Indian research team will be headed by Dr Shoba Joe Kizhakudan, Head of the Finfish Fisheries Division and Principal Investigator of CMFRI’s national project on elasmobranch.

The workshop is coordinated by the India-Shark & Ray Lab of the Finfish Fisheries Division of the CMFRI.