Yugraj Singh Yadava, Ph.D.

18 March 1953 to 30 July 2023

It was with great sadness to learn that Dr. Yugraj Singh Yadava, the former Director of the Bay of Bengal Programme – Inter-Governmental Organization (BOPB-IGO) passed away on 30 July 2023. On behalf of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) and a former Director General of Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA), I would like to express my sincere condolences to his family.

Dr. Yugraj Singh Yadava[1] joined as Director of the erstwhile BOBP in 2000 and facilitated its transformation as an Inter-Governmental Organization in 2003, in which he continued as Director till his retirement in 2021. Dr. Yadava started his professional career in 1976 as a Scientist with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Then he went on to serve as Fisheries Development Commissioner to the Government of India during 1994 – 2000. He served as the first Member Secretary of the Aquaculture Authority of India, currently the Coastal Aquaculture Authority of India. Dr. Yadava has made notable contribution to the global agenda on fisheries and aquaculture. As Government of India’s representative to the Twenty-Second Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) in 1997, he proposed the setting up of the COFI Sub-Committee on Aquaculture (SCAQ) and in 2000 he served as the Vice-Chair of the FAO Expert Consultation to frame “Rules of Procedure” for the SCAQ. In 1999, at the Twenty-Third Session of COFI, he contributed as a founding member of the Regional Fisheries Bodies and later became the Vice-Chair of the Regional Fishery Body Secretariats Network at its Fourth Meeting held in Rome on 13 July 2012. Besides extensively working in the BOBP-IGO member countries, Dr. Yadava has also worked in different projects in Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. A cogent and prolific writer and a photographer, he has published about 150 papers in books, research journals, scientific and popular magazines and reports. Dr. Yadava holds a Ph.D. degree in Fisheries Management in Flood plain Lakes.

We, the staff of the CIRDAP would like to pay tribute to him for his leadership and invaluable contributions to global sustainable fisheries and aquaculture and to rural development for improving the livelihoods and economic development of rural communities. May he rest in peace.

With our deepest condolences,

Dr. Cherdsak Virapat

Director General

Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP)

Dhaka, Bangladesh

1 August 2023

[1] https://www.bobpigo.org/pages/view/formerdirectors