PESHAWAR: The dry spell and no snowfall on mountains are bearing negative impact on the fisheries sector and will decrease the fish production in the country.
According to an expert on the fisheries sector, the impact on the river flows will be evident that the water flow from snow melt will be low. The fish species which breed in the downstream ecosystem will not get the right environmental conditions to spawn and hatchability of new spawn will be affected.
The dry spell with also affect the natural recruitment of new seed of fish from the natural resources in the coming years will be reduced in the country. The aspect, he said requires expansion of aquaculture and sustainable intensification of the sub sector. It will also require expansion of existing seed multiplication centres in public as well as in private sector to meet the increasing demand of the local population and for export. The aquaculture activities have to be expanded in marine brackish and freshwater fisheries and political will is required to do so as without political will the sub sector will remain underutilized.
Increase in fish production from aquaculture will create new employment opportunities and increase the income of the farmers. This will also fulfill the Government commitment to the development goals of food security and better living conditions for the rural population who will be engaged in this sub sector.
UN agency Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) foresees that in the coming decade aquaculture fish production will surpass the wild fisheries production, Aquaculture is growing annually @ 8% globally. However, Pakistan is lagging behind due to inadequate support of the government.
The expert said that the government can attract foreign investment in getting the Private sector training in Fish Production in Marine, Brackish and Freshwater. The training program should be well planned and should be provided to progressive farmers who can support extension services to other farmers. The trainings should be tailored for each segment of marine, brackish and fresh water aquaculture in pond culture, pen culture and cage culture. The basic is the availability of seed for production which should be ensured for small farmers with support to fish feed mills with open formula for making quality fish feed.
The other aspect is availability of locally made equipment for the production purposes. The import of equipment is drain of foreign exchange and local manufacturing will be import substitution as will it can be exported to other countries. All the know how is available and just coordinated efforts of academia, private sector and relevant government department with seed money can bring a visible change.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
Comments
Comments are closed.