A MARINE science research and training station has been established by Pathein University in Pathein township, Ayeyarwaddy Division, with the aim of helping a new generation of marine science students keep abreast of international developments in their field.

Construction on the station – located in the town of Shwe Thaung Yan, about 15 kilometres north of Chaungtha – began in March 2004 and is expected to be completed by the end of March of this year at a total cost of more than K300 million, said U Aubrey Winbaw, a technical adviser at the station.

The compound will include two fish hatchery units, two reservoir tanks for freshwater and seawater, an aquarium for brood stock reserve, a laboratory, five raising ponds and two two-story classroom buildings, he said.

“The station will provide practical training for students from the university’s Department of Marine Science, and will provide facilities for postgraduate students and teachers from the department to conduct research,” he said.

The station will be run by the university department in cooperation with Aqua Farmers, a private-sector aquaculture company that will help in training students to become aquaculture technicians, said U Aubrey Winbaw, who is also a coastal aquaculture biotechnologist for the company.

He said it was also possible that the department and the company would conduct joint research projects.

“Working in cooperation would help develop a new generation of aquaculturists, which Myanmar needs,” he said.

“Professors from the department can provide students with technical knowledge, while the private sector can provide the latest commercial technologies,” said U Aubrey Winbaw.

He said regular practical training sessions – run jointly by university professors and coastal aquaculturists from the company – will be provided to undergraduate students on the weekends.

The company also plans to provide job training to outstanding and enthusiastic students during holiday break, he said.

Test runs began on the station last July with a joint project between the department and the company to hatch marine shrimp, while a group of selected marine science undergraduates were given two months of intensive job training, said U Aubrey Winbaw.

The department and company were also planning to conduct research on crab populations living in the mangrove forests located between the station and Chaungtha, he said.

U Aubrey Winbaw said that further marine science research, which would include hatching marketable fish and shrimp species from both freshwater and seawater, was expected to be conducted jointly with the completion of the station.