KARACHI, Jan 1: A new crisis may erupt in the fisheries sector if early steps are not taken to resolve the outstanding issues between the Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) and the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS).

For over a decade the organizations have been at loggerheads over the share of commission. The demand for 50 per cent share by the KFHA has always irked the FCS officials.

Although the matter is pending in the court, the organizations reached an out-of-court agreement on the vital issue at a joint meeting of directors on Oct 6, 2000.

The agreement was made possible because of the persistent efforts by the society’s new chairman, who is also the chairman of the KFHA.

The matter was referred to the Sindh government but it is yet to be approved. The situation marred the relations between the organizations.

The FCS elected directors, who represents their respective fishermen communities, have accused the KFHA managing director of creating “obstacles in implementing the accord and opening non-issues for promoting his personal interests and creating problems for the FCS and its chairman.”

Some elected directors even expressed their reservations over the way the things were being handled at the fish harbour.

They particularly criticized the authority for indiscriminately levying entry fees on every vehicle operating in the premises of the harbour.

Instead of facilitating the poor fishermen, they said, the KFHA was multiplying their problems by unnecessarily engaging them in cumbersome procedural practices of issuing crew pass and other documents.

Moreover, the multiple agencies working in Karachi Fish Harbour gave an impression that it was a “prohibited area” where fishermen and people associated with the fishing business could not move without the consent of “clearance of agencies,” they said.

The FCS directors said the situation demanded that immediate and effective measures be taken to resolve the outstanding issues between the organizations.

Recently, the Sindh government has nominated Anwarul Islam as director operations of the authority, a charge which he held earlier.

It indicates that all is not well in the authority and drastic measures are needed to improve the working of the KFHA and its image as a pro-fishermen organization, not merely as a revenue collection agency.

The administrative powers of the authority are vested in the MD, who is the chief executive. Since all vital decisions are to be made by him, it is his responsibility to take initiative to sort out the pending issues between the organizations.

Under the present arrangement, the KFHA could not run the affairs of the fish harbour without the active collaboration of the FCS.

The chairman of the FCS is a non-political person and being a senior naval official he commands respect because of his performance for the past three years.

The FCS chief in his capacity as chairman of the organizations has made all out efforts to bring the bodies closer. It was due to his efforts that an out-of-court agreement was made.