Deep-sea trawlers threaten Balochistan fishermen's means of livelihood: NP

KARACHI: Chinese and other deep seas fisheries trawling into Balochistan's territorial sea waters has cast a perilous threat to the marine life that is likely to leave the 'unrecognized' fishermen community of the province without a livelihood, officials of National Party (NP) said on Friday.

"For several decades, the fishermen of Balochistan coastal areas sprawling by 770 kilometres from District Lasbella to Jewani maritime border with Iran are in financial turmoil," Adam Qadir Bakhsh, Balochistan Secretary of National Party told a joint news conference on Friday at the Karachi Press Club.

The Chinese fisheries trawlers have begun infiltrating inside the province 12 nautical miles, giving rise to fears that such an 'illegal' exploitation will devastate not only the local fishermen's living but also exterminate rare marine creatures, he said.

"The issue deteriorates further with inter-provincial fishing vessels hunting with lethal thin nets inside Balochistan waters," he raised a voice for pressing the federal and provincial governments to step up their clampdown to protect the country's largest coastline with marine crustaceans and vertebrates.

"At this time, the entire coastline of Balochistan is in a grip of illegal trawling and ravaging the seas of Pasni, Ormara, Gwadar and Jewani the most," he said the deep seas trawlers are illegally and openly operating inside the prohibited zone of 12 nautical maritime belt.

There is also a fisheries ordinance in place to protect Balochistan's marine life from such threats, he said "despite that law all illegal activities continue unabated and unnoticed". He said that the Balochistan Fisheries Department has completely failed to stop the illegal trawling inside its territorial waters.

"The local fishermen were already perturbed from the interprovincial trawling while the foreign deep seas trawling further reduced chances for their living with fishing," Qadir Bakhsh said that the federal government has a contradictory perspective on this issue.

"It seems that the federal government has issued licenses to the Chinese fishing trawlers (to exploit the country's waters) but has kept in concealment from a fear of political backlash," he said and warned that "if there is any such policy of the federal government then National Party will resist".

He said that the Balochistan Fisheries Department has also an issue of powers, as to how it may handle the foreign and inter-provincial trawlers infiltrations into its jurisdictional waters, adding that "the department's patrol teams covering seas within 12 nautical miles have no weapons to stop foreign vessels forcefully or otherwise".

Qadir Bakhsh also demanded of the Balochistan government to recognize the fishermen of the province as "labour", worrying there is no such legislation in sight yet. "The fishermen of Balochistan have no legal recognition from the government to get any sort of financial aid or compensation when they meet accidents on seas".

The recent cyclone has left several boats of fishermen devastated in Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar and other coastal areas but failed to get any financial assistance from the government, he said that "the government should also develop colonies for the seafarers of the province coastal areas, as pledged by the previous rulers".

National Party will never accept any policies of the government that are meant to "exterminating" the fishermen community, he said that his party will continue to resist and struggle against the illegal trawling by the foreign companies. He demanded that the illegal trawling should be ended immediately.

He said the rehabilitation project of Pasni harbor should be resumed without further delays while fishery jetties in Ormara, Kalmat, Cherband, and Kund Malir, besides the ports of Surband and Pushghan should be restored. Compensations to the Express Way project should also be given to the remaining 50 percent victims, he added. He was accompanied by party officials.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021