Fishing Engineering: A Customized Engineering Program

In order to form professionals committed with the creation and development of science, principally in engineering field the research team of COPEC – Council of Researches in Education and Sciences has conceived and implemented a different kind of engineering program. Brazil despite the low investment in education system is a Country, which in biological and engineering areas is not behind other developed Countries. It is a five years program of Fishing Engineering, which main characteristic is the inclusion of what has been named “Tapé-Apó”. It consists in extra classes of peculiar areas of human knowledge, specially selected to make the students to develop their abilities of applying their skills in the global context. Very close to the environmental and biomedical areas fishing engineering is a young field but that has been contributing to the development of exploration techniques, conservation and correct use of natural aquatic resources. Fishing engineering is rooted in Biological Sciences (Ecology, Biology and Genetics) with Earth Sciences (Physics and Chemistry) and Mathematics. Those disciplines give the necessary basis to understand the aquatic atmosphere and its resources. The practical classes and the laboratories take half of the schedule and they approach techniques and location technologies, creation and reproduction of aquatic species and of industrialization. It is a program that will fulfill the lack of this kind of engineer in the Atlantic Coast Region of São Paulo State, which has a natural vocation to fish. It is because of its large portion of seashore and large number of fishing communities besides the industries of fish caught. It is a project that also has the goal to change the old orthodox pedagogy for engineering education.