Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Mandapam Regional Centre Activities and achievements

Among the subordinate establishments of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, the Mandapam Regional Centre at Mandapam Camp is the only Centre of its kind. The history and the general background of the Centre essentially recapitulate the establishment and early growth of the Institute. Following the recommendations of Lt. Col. Dr Seymour Sewell and the decision of the Government of India in 1946 to set up a marine fisheries research institute in the country, the Naval buildings complex along with 40 hectares of land at Mandapam Camp was acquired and converted into laboratories, administrative wings and temporary residences for staff. The Institute, which was functioning at the Zoology laboratory of the University of Madras from February, 1947 was then shifted to Mandapam Camp in 1949. Since then, for over two decades, until the shifting of Headquarters of the Institute to Cochin in 1970, this establishment at Mandapam Camp served as the Headquarters and the focal point for providing the research direction and support for the development of the marine fisheries of the country. On the shifting of the Headquarters of the Institute to Cochin, the establishment at Mandapam Camp was renamed as Mandapam Regional Centre of CMFRI