KFHA begins drive against unregistered boats

In a bid to ensure airtight security around the fish harbour sea channel, Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) has asked the owners to complete their boats' registration with the authority by July 31, officials said on Tuesday.
"There are hundreds of unregistered small wooden passenger boats plying between fish harbour and the two tiny islands on a daily basis, which now KFHA wants to have a close check by documenting them. The big fishing boats are already registered," they added.
They said, after several meetings of the authority with different stakeholders, Pakistan Navy and Sindh Fisheries Department, emphasised the need of proper documentation of all boats entering the harbour or setting sail from there on a daily basis.
They said Pakistan Navy had also objected over the plying of unregistered boats from fish harbour through the sea channel of shipyard and dockyard, and desired that the authority should streamline their activities with a proper procedure to avoid any kind of untoward incident.
The demand for registration of such boats was being received by the authority from different quarters since long, but the recent terrorist attacks on PNS Mehran of Pakistan Navy made it more urgent considering vital security concerns, the officials added."After passing of the deadline, boats failing to get registered with the authority, would face a crackdown and would not be allowed to voyage through the harbour's waters," they maintained. They said Maritime Security Agency (MSA) had set up its checkpoint at the harbour's sea channel to keep a close eye on the movements of boats passing and reaching the fish harbour platform.
"This checkpoint of MSA will be responsible to check the registration documents of all boats and if any of them failed to produce the relevant credentials, the same will face stern action," they said. According to officials, these unregistered boats it is feared, may carry out sabotage activities inside the country's biggest seaport navigational channel endanger the sensitive naval installations.
They said the small passenger boats have so far no documents permitting them to legally ply around the seaport's water, while carried hundreds of passengers on daily basis from Karachi fish harbour and its adjoining fishermen communities to Baba and Bhit Islands. The authorities said the big fishing boats were carrying their documents, which MSA was checking on their deep-sea voyage at the exit point of the seaport navigational channel.