November 16, 2002	Saturday	Ramazan 10, 1423

KARACHI, Nov 15: Efforts are afoot to develop shrimp aquaculture along the coastal areas of Sindh where 17 creeks having thick forests of mangroves provide natural environment for such an activity, official sources said.

The development of shrimp aquaculture will not only help arrest the fast depleting stock of shrimps, but will also provide employment to fishermen and earn more foreign exchange.

Despite having sixth largest mangrove creeks in the world, the country lagged behind in developing aquaculture along its coast line spreading over 1,000 kilometre, bringing under its fold two major provinces — Sindh and Balochistan.

As a result of this, the country’s shrimps export through aquaculture is zero, whereas source and stock of shrimps export of other countries of the region mostly come from aquaculture. Bangladesh export of shrimps comes up to 98 per cent from aqua culture, Thailand between 70 and 75 per cent and India 60 per cent.

“If we do not work on the aquaculture on war footing the country could totally lose its shrimps reserves, particularly when marine life is being destroyed by the local fishermen with their destructive nets called Katra and Gujja,” asserted chairman, Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA), Commodore Syed Tayyab Naqvi.

Besides being a feed for other fish, shrimp is being over harvested and exploited by fishermen, resulting in rapid reduction of its stock on each passing day. Therefore, it is urgently needed to develop shrimp aquaculture along the coastal areas of Sindh, he added.

Referring back to the destructive nets being extensively used in creeks which are breeding ground for shrimps, Tayyab Naqvi said: “The mesh size of these nets are narrow which even traps juvenile fish or shrimps of one inch length.”

He disclosed that these juvenile shrimps are sold for Rs15 to Rs20 per kg, and in each kilogramme there are around 800 to 1,000 shrimp pieces. If these juvenile shrimps are allowed to grow and mature then they will fetch around Rs400 per kg or 18 to 20 shrimp pieces of full size, he added.

However, he stressed that without involving private sector in shrimps aquaculture the government could not succeeded as a lot of efforts and attention are needed for such projects.

Under foreign assistance a few years back a shrimp aquaculture project was set up at Gharo but the government failed to run it properly. However, he said now efforts were being made by Sindh government to reactivate the project and about two months back around 80,000 shrimps in eight ponds had been stocked.

He further said that a number of private sector groups were keen to take over this project and run it properly. Besides, many other private sector groups were also showing keen interest in developing other such projects along the coastal areas of Sindh.

Two major factors are encouraging illegal use of such destructive nets — (I) the law is not being enforced properly and (II) there are some loopholes within the law which give a lee way for such culprits who are destroying marine life of the country.