PESHAWAR: Federal government in collaboration with provincial Government of Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baluchistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir is promulgating fisheries rules to regulate the fish production inputs, production process and its marketing of quality of fish, said a former top official of the KP Fisheries Department on Sunday.

The initiative, he said that would turn the present practices of handling fish more hygienic and safer for human consumption. This aspect of regulation was overdue due to poor handling of consumable fish and fish products within the country.

This is a positive sign to align the aquaculture industry of fish quality from fresh water, brackish water and marine for export. It will become easy for the private sector to comply with the regulator requirement of importing countries in Europe as well as Gulf States.

The new regulation will create new avenues of jobs for our qualified youths in fisheries and aquaculture sub sector of agriculture in the near future. The new addition of infrastructure and supporting set of monitoring and regulations of fish and fish products for their quality in collaboration with the provincial governments of Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baluchistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir.

The regulation will also require capacity building of the public and private sector stakeholders. The public sector stakeholders have to be trained in the monitoring and enforcement of law.

This will also require capacity building of private sector stakeholders on the subject of personal hygiene and following the protocols of handling fish and fish products for human consumption and maintenance of hygienic conditions of the fish processing.

The existing condition of transportation, handling in the marketing channel from aquaculture farm to market degrades the quality of fish for human consumption in many ways such as improper cold chain temperature fluctuation provide medium for bacterial growth which can be injurious to human health and cause of different diseases.

The culling of fish will become more humane, cold chain system will become in place with quality processing. This will also provide support to sustainable development of Aquaculture in Pakistan creating new avenues of employment creation and enhancing the income of stakeholders in the supply chain.

Packing and waste will be carried out in appropriate manner and a new set of industry will grow to the requirement of new requirements. This will also bring efficiency in transport efficiency as the vehicles will be caring consumable fish and fish products.

The new regulation will support sustainable fisheries development with public and private support which will be in the interest of both the stakeholders.

This will also attract corporate sector to come and invest in the shape of local investment and direct foreign investment in different activities of supply chain of fish and fish products.

The new culture of branding will develop aligned the quality of fish and fisheries products with better quality of nutrition from production to till retail market. This will also create a culture of responsible fish farming practices.

The new development cycle is the requirement of time as Global change is taking place particularly the international fisheries change through regulatory frame work in importing countries thus national fisheries change. This will be Aquaculture Industry centric thus should be looked through positive angle.

The new development of the industry is taking place from proper icing of fish and placing them in thermo pore cartoons from Aquaculture production facilities or transported live to the processing industry where the fishes are culled in humane way, degutted chilled or frozen in hygienic way following food safety protocols and freshness and quality maintenance, with modified air packaging and subsequently set to marketing in the retail shops. Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points are regularly monitored as per protocols for food safety.

Today’s consumer is price sensitive and they will pay for freshness and quality of fish and fisheries products for freshness, physical appearance, food safety. For this purpose, corporate culture will come into play in Pakistan and for export markets.

Omega-3 can become a new brand for cold water fish i.e. Rainbow Trout Fish which is produced only in cold-water regions of Pakistan.

New businesses will flourish because the purchasing power of the population will increase having multiplier effect in the local economy. The youth which remained unemployed during winter will be gainfully employed during slack period of agricultural activities.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023