Vice President inaugurates Marine Interpretation Unit at FRCCE in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam : Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday inaugurated the Marine Interpretation Unit created at the Forest Research Centre for Coastal Ecosystem (FRCCE) here to disseminate knowledge on the marine environment and to work with coastal communities.

Speaking on the occasion, Naidu called upon citizens to be mindful of their actions and their long term impact on the planet.

Stressing the need for everyone to become environmentally conscious, he said: “It is high time that we make amends to bring the desired change in the health of our planet.”

After visiting the FRCCE, he, in a Facebook post, recounted his experience of his visit to the centre and wrote that the display units in the Marine Interpretation Unit showing various wood samples at progressive stages of degradation were very informative.

He was also apprised of the bird diversity of Eastern Ghats as well as species of birds associated with mangroves along the 114 KM long coastline of Visakhapatnam district.

The Centre is the lone establishment in the country for research on timber protection under seawater in its total perspective, the Vice President said that he was happy that the FRCCE was conducting research on forest biodiversity and forest genetic resources management with respect to mangroves and coastal ecosystems of East and West coast.

“Their research work on the mangrove ecosystem as well as biodiversity of Eastern Ghats is all the more critical in the time of ecological degradation and climate change,” he said.

Naidu expressed his happiness that the centre has distributed 100 preservative-treated catamarans made of perishable timber to the fishermen of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as a measure towards alleviating poverty.

He reiterated that “the ultimate aim of science is to bring happiness and make people’s lives better.”

The Vice President lauded the centre for the good work that was being done there for the benefit of coastal communities.

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