The University of Liberia will on Wednesday, January 25, 2023 launch the Department of Fishery and Aquaculture Sciences (DoFAS) at the state-run university.
Speaking during a press conference on Thursday, January 19, 2023 at Capitol Hill, the Acting Chair of the Department and Fishery and Aquaculture Sciences, Professor Alvin S. Jueseah, said it was intended to build the needed human resource capacity that will support the Liberian government in achieving its sustainable development goal.
Professor Jueseah underscored the importance of national food security and resource conservation, sustainable management of the fishery resource of Liberia and marine and inland ecosystems to provide long-term goods and services to communities.
According to him, the role of the DoFAS is to train competitive students with skills in fishery management and administration, aquaculture and fish processing and marketing science to provide services to the public and private sectors.
He said aquaculture and fish processing and marketing students are to carry out research in marine and inland water ecosystems to assist policy and decision-makers to prepare policies on sustainable utilization of marine and freshwater resources.
The bachelor’s degree in the Fishery Science Program, he said, is designed to prepare fishery professionals with competencies in science and practice of fishery and aquaculture, as well as fish processing and marketing.
The Liberian fishing industry, with a World Bank US$60 million injection, is in transition to support the in-progress transition in the Liberia fishing industry from small-scale to semi and large-scale industrialization. The World Bank quite recently agreed to finance the establishment and running of a Regional Center of Excellence for Fishery and Aquatic Sciences (ReCEFAS) at the University of Liberia (UL).
The ReCEFAS will support the transition of the Liberia fishing industry to semi and large-scale through capacity development, institutional strengthening, innovation and research extension service, quality assurance, among others.
ReCEFAS will be providing technical capacity development and knowledge support for the effort aimed at industrializing the fishery sector in Liberia.