SINDH is bestowed with naturally rich fishing waters of around 1,209 in number. Millions of fisher-folks draw their livelihood from it, including from the inland lakes, ponds, depressions and the Indus River.
Fishermen earned their livelihood by fishing freely in lakes, ponds, depressions and in the Indus River. To regulate the activities and register the fishermen, the provincial government introduced the ‘License System’ in 1977 on major fishing grounds after registration. This gave them the fishermen the right to carry out their activities in the fishing grounds independently.
Meanwhile, the provincial government promulgated the Sindh Fisheries Act 1980, which gave legal status to the license system.
Few years back, the government introduced contract system through auctioning of water grounds thus allowing fishing through the fishermen. In the beginning, this system was introduced on few lakes. Gradually more and more lakes were brought under this system, replacing the fishermen’s license system. This year, the government has started the process of completely wiping out license system and imposing the contract system on all fresh water grounds of the province.
As the government has announced a detailed schedule of auctioning fishing grounds of all districts in early May this year, the fishermen communities and their organization, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) decided to protest against what they called an ‘exploitative contract system’.
In this connection, on May 16, the fishing grounds of Hyderabad district were auctioned at the Sindh Fisheries Department, Hyderabad Office. Hundreds of communities including men, women and children held protest rally and sit-in against the auctioning. Police arrested the PFF Chairperson along with his four colleagues registering cases against them.
When a local court gave them bail in the cases, they were re-arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order. The fishermen communities are continuing their protest against the contract system, organizing protest rallies, hunger strikes etc. Recently, an all parties conference was also organized in Karachi, in which all the political parties of Pakistan, except the ruling parties, opposed the introduction of contract system in fishing and demanded the restoration of license system.
License is a legal permit to catch fish according to capacity and availability of the stock in a particular lake or a pond. This gives a sense of ownership to the fishermen who work independently and adopt methods for sustainable catch.
Under the contract system, a contractor’s main target is to exploit the maximum quantity of fish to earn windfall profits. He seeks the contract through the payment of handsome amount as commission to the authorities of the Fisheries Department. Under this system fishermen work like slaves as they sell their catch to contractors and his appointees. Moreover, fishermen have no powers and means to protect the environment or the ecology of a lake.
The licensing system is a source of income for the government as every fisherman pays a certain amount in annual license fee. In some cases, the fishermen pay more amount than a contractor. The only opposition to license system comes from the high officials of the Fisheries Department because it stops corruption practices.
In the past the officials had tried their best to fail this system. They collected the license fees from the Manchar lake fishermen, but did not deposit it with the national exchequer and reported to the Sindh government of low recovery.
The contract system unfolds a vicious circle of bondage for fishermen. According to the Sindh Fisheries Act 1980, in the case of contract system fishermen would receive three-fourth of the share, while the contractor can claim only one-fourth of the share. In majority of the cases a contractor claims three-fourth share or even 100 per cent thus depriving the fishermen of their due share.
The Sindh Fisheries Act 1980 clearly states that the fishermen working under the contract system are free to sell their share of the catch in the open market. But, in practice, they are compelled to sell all their catch to a contractor on 40 to 50 per cent less than the market price. The contractor also resorts to over-fishing and forces the labour to fish indiscriminately for more catch. This has resulted in rapid reduction of the fish resources and it is feared that these fishing grounds may collapse, resulting in starvation of millions of fisher-folk communities and their families.
Under section-7 of the Ordinance, “no person shall use dynamite or other explosive substances or put any poison, lime or noxious material in any waters with the intention of catching or destroying fish or aquatic life therein”.
However, in a bid to earn more, contractors even spray poisonous chemicals in fishing waters which brings dead fish on the surface but also kills the species. This degrades the waters and results in the reduction of future catches. The fishermen face the worst kind of bondage and are unable to move or migrate. The entire family of a fisherman is compelled to work, including small children.
In such a background, the demand of millions of fishermen seems justified. The government should pay head to their demands and stop contracting out fishing grounds to the influential middlemen. It should restore the license system to the fishermen.
Fishermen fear that even if the licence system was introduced, the influential contractors may not allow them to fish independently. Therefore, the government should make adequate arrangement for the protection of these people.
Major fishing grounds and lakes in different districts of Sindh have been occupied by the influential landlords of those areas. They, with the help of the Fisheries Department officially receive contracts of the fishing grounds and exploit the fishermen.
In many cases, fishermen are killed and their boats and nets taken away whenever they raise a voice against the injustice. The government should bring illegal occupations of the fishing waters to an end and take action against such exploitative practices.
