High quality shrimp: cloudy horizon, gusty winds to scale down catch

The overcast weather and rougher sea have worried the fishermen ahead of the new fishing season as they believe the cloudy horizon and gusty wind will scale down catch of high quality shrimp. Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) has begun the process of issuing and renewing crew cards to the fishermen ahead of the new fishing season which kicks off on August 1, official said on Monday.
Similarly, the fishermen have also completed their preparations to sail towards deep sea to net fish and shrimp. However, they are more worried about the cloudy weather and gusty winds that will hamper their efforts to hunt quality Jaira shrimp. Talking to Business Recorder, President Native Islanders Fishermen Association (Nifa) Asif Bhatti said the looming weather conditions were worrying the seafarers just ahead of the new season. He said though there would be other shrimp species like Pink and Kalari in abundance but the fishermen wanted to net the Jaira one for its high price on the local market.
"The strong winds and cloudy weather push Kalari towards seabed making it difficult for fishermen to hunt them," he said. "Every fisherman from August till mid September will sail only to trap Jaira," he said, adding that after September, the catching of fish would start till the next fishing season end in June.
During the closed season in July, he said, Kalari was being sold for Rs 650 kg illegally, but hoped with new season the market would show impetus in the price of specie. He said about 130 Hala boats were set to make their fresh voyage, adding, however, big Hala boats would begin their hunting after mid September to catch fish.
He said between August and mid September, there was an abundance of shrimp in its all verities available on the sea. The KFHA officials said the authority had started issuing and renewing of crew cards for fishermen just ahead to the new fishing season, adding that hundreds of fishermen were obtaining these cards. It may be mentioned here that the government banned catch of fish and shrimp every year in July due to a number of factors including rough sea conditions, but reopened all kind of hunting in August every year.