KARACHI, June 3: All deep-sea fishing trawlers will have to install a monitoring equipment to be linked with a base station to ensure their exact location in the territorial waters of the country.

The vessel monitoring system (VMS) device, approved at a meeting here on Monday, will locate fishing vessel in the deep sea, including its movement, time, area location, etc, according to fisheries officials.

On Monday, a base station was installed in the control room of the Maritime Security Agency (MSA) to monitor the activities of deep-sea trawlers.

The working of the device was shown to officials on the occasion of a meeting of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) at the MSA head office. The meeting was presided over by M. Shafi Niaz, Adviser to the Chief Executive on Food, Agriculture and Livestock.

Together with several other issues, the meeting reviewed the progress of the implementation of the deep-sea fishing policy 2001. The meeting was told that with the installation of monitoring system on-board and base stations, violations by deep-sea trawlers would be effectively checked.

Explaining the working of the global monitoring system in the MSA control room, a representative of the company said if any fishing trawler tried to remove this equipment from the vessel, it would be automatically communicated to the base station immediately.

He said the digital camera installed at the base station would monitor the movement of fishing vessels in the Arabian Sea.

Another base camp will be activated at the Pasni coast in Balochistan this month.

The adviser appreciated the efforts of the MSA for their cooperation and full support in the installation of VMS at the base station and in deep-sea fishing trawlers.

Deep-sea fishing was banned in the country on September 29, 2000. The ban was lifted on May 26, 2001 and the government announced a new deep-sea fishing policy.

The NFDB held several meetings to sort out contentious issues which caused delay in the implementation of the new fishing policy.

Last month, the government allowed operation of deep-sea trawlers.

About the development project of the Korangi Fish Harbour (KFH), the adviser issued instructions for expediting the financing of the project and the proposals submitted to the ministry of food and agriculture.

The project envisages the revival of navigational aid system and procurement of surveillance pilot boat.

An official of the Korangi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KoFHA) called for effective measures to complete the Korangi Fish Harbour road and setting up of a police post for security purposes.

The advisor asked the representative of the Sindh government to complete the road construction work and setting up of police post at the KFH.

The marine fisheries department submitted a report on classification of fishing vessels on the basis of length or GRT to the NFDB.

The meeting agreed to provide financing to conduct a study on inland fisheries and aquaculture.

The chairman of the Pakistan Seafood Industries Association submitted a report on the status of the marine fisheries sector.

The meeting was attended by fisheries officials from Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, EPB Chairman Tariq Ikram, Secretary Ministry of Food and Agriculture Hafeez Akhtar, Director-General MSA Rear Admiral Gul Zaman Malik, and FCS Chairman Commodore Syed Tayyab Naqvi. Representatives of various departments also attended the meeting.

At the meeting the adviser to the president urged fisheries officials to streamline the working of the fishing sector by taking effective measures to implement the decisions taken at the seventh meeting of the NFDB.

The meeting also reviewed the progress made so far in the fisheries sector in all the provinces in the light of the decisions taken in previous meetings of the NFDB.

The participants of the meeting urged all the departments and agencies concerned to take early and effective measures to expedite work on the ongoing projects.

The meeting also discussed various issues pertaining to the Karachi Fish Harbour.

MOLE-HOLDERS: In the afternoon, Commissioner Fisheries Raja Rafaqat also held a meeting with the representatives of mole-holders and factory-owners and discussed various issues, particularly the complaints by mole-holders about their stuck-up money.