Landing of the season's first bulk catch is likely to take weeks more as the clogged navigational channel of harbour delayed hundreds of vessels to sail deep sea to resume shrimp hunt, fishermen said on Tuesday. Boats delayed their voyages for shrimp hunt this year almost by two-week from the seasons start on August 1, as fishermen blamed the highly congested navigational channel for their late departure to sea.
"Congestion at fish harbour channel and then shortage of flake ice, which is used to preserve the catch, have delayed the deep sea shrimp hunt" said President Sindh Trawlers Owners and Fishermen Association (Stofa), Habibullah Khan Niazi. Hundreds of deep sea boats are yet to return with expected bulk catch, he said, adding that "this year catch is anticipated to be bigger in volume as compared to their quantity during the last fishing season".
According to him, the long trip wooden boats which are harnessed with gill-nets will, however, begin their deep-sea journey just now, unlike the shrimp catching vessels who are engaged in hunt for the last 10 days. "Shrimp crop this season we expect greater in size," Niazi said, adding that the volume of fish catch cannot be forecast from now since there is no such clue to get help to predict their catch growth.
Landing of fish is likely to take place in bulk size around three weeks from now, he said, adding that "the boats which will search for fish verities have just started preparing for the new season hunt". He hoped long holidays that occurred with holy month of Ramazan and then by Eidul Fitr provided additional relaxation to the sea and marine life as hunters stayed ashore to observe the religious rituals for quite a while.
"This year we, therefore, expect to have a better shrimp and fish crop because the sea found a better span of relaxation as fishermen observed their religious obligations that took them almost two months with an official fishing ban in July," President Stofa said.
In fish varieties, he said the fishermen will snarl saram, surmai, dhothar, heera, ribbonfish, sole fish, white and black pomfrets once they resume their hunt of the new season. China has great demand of Pakistani cuttlefish and squid fish. Exporters say China's import from Pakistan surged phenomenally in recent years, which is expected to grow further in future. Pakistan fisheries export posted a robust growth of $49.82 million hitting a historic high of $367.472 million in the last fiscal year 2013-14.
Pakistan largely export shrimp of all kinds to world different markets, fish verities like cuttlefish, squid, Indian mackerel, red snapper, black and white pomfret, etc. Pakistan's major seafood markets are China, Middle East and Far East, exporters say.