An Introduction to the Department of Fisheries, University of Dhaka

The Department of Fisheries is amongst the leading fisheries education and research institutions in Bangladesh and South-Asia under the University of Dhaka – the first, largest and number one ranked university of Bangladesh. The Department’s vision is to advance the fisheries and aquaculture sectors by supplying high-quality human resources and research-based knowledge and technologies.

Established in 1998, the Department currently has more than two hundred undergraduate, masters, MPhil and PhD students. It has 23 faculty members most of whom have higher degrees from renowned institutions across the world. It has two premises at the Curzon hall area of the university. A five-story Professor Mohammed Shafi Fisheries Building is home to its undergraduate programme – BS honours in Fisheries (4 years) – and the main office. It produces high-quality graduates through stat-of-the-art teaching along with practical and fieldwork activities. The eastern part of the main Curzon hall building is home to its three master’s programmes – MS in Aquaculture, MS in Fisheries Biology and Genetics and MS in Fisheries Management.

The Department produces high-quality graduates and research outputs which have created major impacts to advance the fisheries sector. The graduates are employed by top employers such as Bangladesh civil service, universities, Bangladesh fisheries research institute, Department of Fisheries of the government of Bangladesh, Fisheries related industries, national and international NGOs and private sector. A considerable number of the graduates are studying or completed their higher studies from renowned universities in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.

The Department has seven research labs namely Aquaculture genomics lab, Aquatic lab, Fish population dynamics, ecology and climate change lab, Fish nutrition and quality control lab, Fisheries management and water quality lab, Fisheries microbiology lab, and Fisheries genetics and biotechnology lab. It also has a computer lab, an auditorium, indoor and outdoor aquaculture and fisheries research facilities and a seminar library with more than two thousand books.

One of the key strengths of the Dept. is its collaboration with other departments, institutes, and centers of the Dhaka University, which has given the opportunity to conduct cutting edge interdisciplinary fisheries and aquaculture research related to microbiology, biotechnology, genetic engineering, economics, social science, aquatic zoology, aquatic botany, marine science, climate change, chemistry, pollution, biodiversity, business, entrepreneurship and so on. The Dept. also collaborates with other institutions in Bangladesh and foreign countries such as Belgium, China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, USA, and UK. The Dept. conducts basic, applied and action research in the related fields.