Representatives of various groups dealing in fishing, in its marketing and by-products have demanded complete ban on deep sea trawlers for protection of their rights and livelihood, besides calling for effective measures for the development of fishermen community.
This demand was made at a national roundtable meeting on fisheries held in a local hotel here on Wednesday morning. The meeting was organised by Pakistan National Committee of IUCN.
The discussion revolved round the current standing of fisheries resources, scale of major causes of the degradation of coastal and deltaic fisheries resources, assess the impact on the socio-economic condition of the fishermen community, and recommend policy suggestions for the protection and preservation of fisheries in the country.
A large number of participants attended the meeting, which was presided over by former federal minister Javed Jabbar. The participants included Fisheries Development Commission Chairman Dr Mohammad Hayat, Sindh Coastal Development Authority (CDG) Secretary Shahabudin, Marine Security Agency (MSA) Director (Operation) Commander Mohammad Zakir, DG EDA Sindh, Nazneen Ansari, Fisherman Co-operative Society Vice Chairman Shafi Mohammad Jamote and representatives of fisher folks from other provinces.
Pakistan Fisher Forum (PFF) Chairman Mohammad Ali Shah pointed out the deep sea trawlers were one of the serious threats to the fishermen livelihood. He alleged that deep sea trawlers during fishing were wasting a huge amount of species for achieving their targets, which had brought about the extinct of fishe near and off the shores.
"Around 300 mdg sewerage, and industrial waste, besides other lethal industrial waste amounting 4,000 tons are being released direct into the sea, which have also affected the growth of fish, besides endangering their existence at large," he maintained.
Criticising the contract fishing system, Shah said that it had crippled the businesses of fishermen and had turned them into bounded labour. He also criticised the fishing policies, and termed them as "grabbing of fishermen's rights."
Pakistan Mahigeer Tehreek Representative Zubeda Birwani expressed deep concerns over the worst conditions of fishermen community of Sindh and Balochistan, saying that fishery sectors in both provinces had gone by the worst due to ineffective policies.
She demanded effective and pragmatic measures for the rehabilitation of the displaced fishermen. Criticising the KPT, Coast Guard, and Navy, she said these institutions created numerous problems for the fishermen, disturbed their sailing and behaved inhumanly with them as if they were not the Pakistani nationals. She alleged that KPT, Navy, and Coast Guards have completely denied the rights of fishermen.
Earlier, Dr Naseem Akhtar expressed apprehension over the decline in production of fish, he said it had come down with the passage of time. He pointed out that fish industry was contributing only one percent to the country's GDP while one percent of labour force of country's total labour force was engaged in fishing.
He said consumption of fish was at 1.8 kg in the country annually while 17.39 kg of meat, mutton, poultry were being consumed, which suggested the unavailability of fish in the most parts of the country.
He suggested that dams other resources should be exploited to meet the targets, besides avoiding the fish extinction in the country. Mohammad Zeeshan-ul-Haq, director, Planning Coastal Development Authority, Balochistan, apprised the meeting that Balochistan was producing around 120 metric tonnes of fish every year. He said around 50 species were produced in the provinces out of which 35 were edible. He pointed out several shortcomings in producing fish at higher scale to make the huge exports to other countries.
He said the fishing sector in Balochistan was facing serious threats, including overfishing, lack of sustainable fisheries, use of harmful nets, unrestricted and unabated fishing, and fishing in the breeding season.
He also said that lack of proper awareness of fishing, old and slow speed wooden boats, long fishing trips, bad inland communication network, lack of proper marketing, lack of sheds and storage, and fish markets were also the main factors in the continued decline of fish production in Balochistan.
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