PESHAWAR: Omar Hayat Khan, an expert on the fisheries and aquaculture, has called for conducting a study to achieve the goals of sustainable fisheries and improve an effective governance tool.
Talking to this scribe, he said that this study should examine the qualitatively the costs and benefits of alternative module of transparency, including hypothetical fully transparent system.
It should also highlight how potential costs and benefits of greater transparency depend on both governance context and management goals and identify opportunities for further research to address key information gaps in the sub sector of fisheries management.
He said that fisheries and aquaculture sub-sector of agriculture have been progressing in improving its management but face challenges to sustainability including depletion of its fish stock in the natural water bodies due to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
The main issue is that fisheries staff cannot monitor who is fishing or where fishing is occurring; their scope for management interventions is limited.
This lack of transparency in spatial fishing activity is considered a key enabler of illegal fishing and over-fishing and hinders proper management of the natural resource. To increase transparency in location tracking is gaining momentum as a promising way to improve the management of fisheries resources. However, the transparency of activities which are taking place at departmental level in the field can further improved as they have not been carefully studied.
The Government of Pakistan concerned ministries with coordinated efforts of the Provincial Fisheries department should work on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) to accelerate transformation action along the triple bottom line of ecological, economic and social sustainability.
The Fisheries and Aquaculture sector has to be transformed to Blue sector which offers significant opportunities to improve fisheries management to achieve decent work and economic growth. This will facilitate in achieving nutritional food for growing population and livelihood opportunities to the rural population. The improved management of fisheries and aquaculture resources with provide support to sustainable and efficient utilization of marine and inland aquatic resources of the country for consumption and production of fish.
Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nation has been supporting Fisheries and Aquaculture community development with new approached to fisheries and aquaculture management and our province can also benefit from its developed instruments. Presently there is no fisheries and aquaculture policy of the province which needs to be developed along with development strategy and action plan for further development of fisheries and Aquaculture in the province for creation of decent jobs and source of income at the rural level with quality protein for food security.
The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can jump start the blue revolution in the southern districts of the province by providing enabling environment to the private sector for investment with the support of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority, Government of Pakistan.
The fisheries and aquaculture sub sector of agriculture provide tremendous opportunities as the natural resources for its development in the shape of land, water, human resource as well technologies for production of fish are readily available. Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has already invested in Carp Fish Hatcheries in the Province and are already providing the basic inputs of fish seed of appropriate species for culture.
The sub sector can attract investment from private sector for present status of small scale to commercial production of fish for human consumption. To achieve the goal of creation of commercial based aquaculture enterprises it require a enabling policy for the private sector based on supply chain or value chain from production to the consumers. The warm water Fisheries and Aquaculture has not been given adequate attention for its development to its potential and its need of the time to double the production with improved management practices in public and private sector.
The development of southern district aquaculture and fisheries will improve the fish supply chain within the province and our country. The demand of fish is increasing with increasing population and income in the urban areas. Fish production through aquaculture growth provides multiple new employment opportunities in fish production, marketing and processing. Private sector is the engine of growth and it need to be facilitated through technical support for the establishment of the enterprise, feasibility studies and input utilization on scientific basis so that they can produce the right quantity of produce for the market and make a profit on investment made in their new set up.
Special attention needs to be paid to existing Small and Medium Aquaculture enterprises in the province as they represent the majority of the aquaculture producers. Commercial investment in Aquaculture is high but small-scale investments are mostly missed opportunities for expansion and creation of new employment opportunities. They need proper attention and support so as to enable the new entrepreneurs in the sub sector to invest and make a profit from the investment.
These small and medium fish farmers need to be organized at district level so as to facilitate them to make positive contribution to the sub sector though Associations, cooperatives and other tools of fish farmers’ mobilization. This will transform into social and economic impact on the rural areas of the province.
The bottom line is creation of investment opportunities for entrepreneurs, creation of new jobs for employment and source of income for the all the stakeholders in the rural areas of the province.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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