A consultative workshop on fishing rights and sustainable fishing policy and practices in Sindh was held at a local hotel on Wednesday. It was pointed out that fisheries is the livelihood of millions of fisher-folk communities of Sindh and that there are a number of problems such as reduction, threats of growing poverty and food insecurity among the coastal fisher-folk communities.
The participants of the moot discussed Oxfam study on "Fishing Rights, Sustainable Fishing Policy and Practices in Sindh". A presentation was given on the recently completed Oxfam study, which further said the evidences from different sources of data collection showed that the key causes of the degradation in the fisheries resources in the open entry system in the fishing livelihoods with no historical ownership or custodian-ship rights to the indigenous fisher-folk communities.
This, it was pointed out, had resulted in increased entry of the non-fisherfolk elements in fisheries livelihoods with pure commercial motives and little regard for the sustainability of the livelihoods.
The study further added that without any sustainable fisheries policy, the drive towards commercialisation of the livelihoods in the face of globalisation and the export-oriented growth policies had further contributed towards the degradation of the livelihoods resources to the extent of even compelling the indigenous fisher-folk communities to set aside their historical sustainable fishing methods as to join the race for over exploitation of the fisheries resources.
It maintained that no stock assessment of the fisheries had been carried out for the last 20 years. However, every year many new fishing boats and trawlers are registered permitting them to fish in the coastal waters. The increase in the boat, trawlers and even deep trawlers' fleet without stock assessment has brought the coastal waters at the brink of over exploitation.
According to the study, the signs of the over exploitation of the fisheries resources are visible even from the government data. The fish catch data both overall catch or even specie wise catch shows a constant decline in fish catch. The decline in the catch is being observed despite increase in the fishing fleet every year.
According to handbook of Fisheries Statistics of Pakistan 2006, the total marine catch figures show a decline since 1999 from 474,000 tones total catch to 399,000 tones in 2003. This is a decline of more than 15 percent over the last five years and would indicate that there should be some concern regarding over-fishing, since declining catches, with either stable or rising fishing effort are often early indicators of reduction in fish.
Similarly, there is reduction in the specie wise catch. The participants of the workshop while validating different findings of the study said that reduction in the fish catch is a matter of concern for the fisher-folk communities. However, there are many causes also contributing towards the degradation of fisheries resources.
Such causes include lack of proper implementation on the fisheries laws, unsustainable exploitation of fisheries resources by the deep-sea trawlers, exploitative contract system, degradation of the breeding grounds of fisheries and shrimps specially mangrove forests and increased level of coastal pollution and commercialisation of the coastal areas depriving the local communities from their historical fishing grounds etc.
According to the participants, the most immediate need for the fisheries sector is the task of carrying out stock assessment of the fish stock in the coastal waters as such assessment has not been carried out since two decades. As a result there is no scientific proof of the actual biomass and the under-exploited and over exploited areas/ regions or even fish species. Issuing more and more permits to the fishing trawlers without any assessment is one of the key threats to the fisheries livelihoods.
Therefore, the participants demanded that stock assessment of the coastal fisheries should be carried out with out any delay. They also said that fisher-folk communities had been the custodians of the fishing grounds since centuries and had been depending on those groups for their livelihoods. These fishing grounds are the key livelihoods sources for the indigenous fisher-folk communities.
Therefore, the participants demanded that the historical rights of the fisherfolk communities on those waters should be given legal cover and the open entry policy in the fishing should be stopped and a new legal framework should be developed. The participants said that although a separate National Fisheries Policy had been introduced and there were also laws and rules and as such the flaws in those be removed.
It is important to bring those policies, laws and rules in accordance with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fishing, the participants demanded and said the commercialisation of the coastal land, by different business concerns without any regard for the historical livelihood rights of the fisher-folk communities on the same lands/ fishing grounds, has threatened the livelihoods of the fisher-folk communities. A number of government officials, experts, NGO activists and fisher-folk community representatives participated in the workshop.