KARACHI, June 1: The 60-day ban on fishing in the coastal areas of Sindh has been reduced to 30 days, it is learnt.

According to a fisheries source, the annual customary ban used to be imposed for two months — June and July — in the past.

Recently, various fishermen delegations called on the provincial fisheries minister and put forward their longstanding demand that the ban be totally lifted as it was yet to be established that the two-month period were the breeding season. They also pointed out that the ban had never been observed with in the past.

They were of the view that the ban had been affecting adversely only the small fishermen citing no such restrictions on deep-sea trawlers’ operation.

Following curtailment in the ban period, the source said, catching of fish, shrimp and other sea resources would remain unlawful only during the month of June, an official of Fisheries Cooperatives Society (FCS) confirmed.

He said that Fisheries Minister Sardar Manzoor Ali Panhwar had relaxed the ban after consultation with the representatives of fishermen community and the officials concerned.

The two-month ban is imposed under section 25 of the Sindh Fisheries Ordinance-1980. However, it has usually to be lifted ahead of schedule every year on small fishermen’s distress calls who would face economic hardships. The term of ban was allowed to complete only in 1993.

The relaxation in ban had always been resisted by a section of marine experts and some of the fishermen representatives.