KARACHI: Govt pledges to solve fishermen’s problems
By Latif Baloch
KARACHI, May 23: A model village for fishermen will be launched in Sindh’s coastal areas in the next fiscal year where all modern facilities, including road network, drinking water and electricity system, will be made available to bring about a change in the lifestyle of the community.
Unfolding the project at a seminar on “Fisheries issues” held here on Tuesday , Sindh Secretary for Fisheries Baaz Mohammad Junejo said the government was giving top priority to the development of coast areas.
He said an allocation of Rs1,200 million was being made for the execution of coastal areas development projects in the fiscal 2006-67. Besides, Rs400 million would be earmarked for development of hatcheries. In addition to that, there would be a revolving fund for the financial assistance of fishermen.
Maintaining that the fishermen community was the most oppressed class, Mr Junejo said the government was making all-out efforts to improve the lot of fishermen. However, he made it clear that without the cooperation of the community, the CBOs and the NGOs, the government could not achieve its objectives.
He expressed the hope that all stake-holders in fisheries would fully cooperative with the government in its development efforts without any political consideration.
He said the issue of deep-sea trawlers related to the federal government which could only take a final decision. At the same time, he added the issue of banned nets was also important and it could only be resolved if local community leaders joined in the efforts of the government. The secretary said the government was not in favour of depriving the local fishermen of their livelihood by taking harsh actions and it was tolerating many illegal practices in the larger interest of the community.
He said steps would be taken for preventing the release of pollutants into the sea so that fish products could be made hygienic and their quantity increased for consumption in the national as well as international markets.
The seminar was organized by the Pakistan Fishermen Forum. The speakers included Shakat Hayat Khan (Oceanography), Anwar-ul-Islam (director of fisheries), Rajaab Memon (a fisheries expert), Shafi Mohammad Jamote (director of the Fishermen Cooperative Society), Shamsul Haq Memon (Coastal Development Authority), Ejaz Ahmed (WWF) and Commodore Mehtab Khan (MSA). At the outset of the seminar, PFF chairman Mohammad Ali Shah highlighted various issues concerning the fisheries sector and the problems faced by the fishermen community. They included depletion of fish resources, over-fishing, entry of people belonging to non-fishing community into the sector, the role of sea lords in the creeks, the use of destructive nets, the reduction in fresh water in the Indus, pollution of coastal waters, contract system in inland fisheries, poor management of fishery resources, access to market and detention of fishermen for straying into alien waters.
He also highlighted the importance of sustainable fisheries management policy. He said the fisheries sector offered employment to thousands of families, mostly settled in villages along the coastline and mostly being poor, marginalized have no access to basic facilities.
According to him, the crisis in the fisheries sector was because of lack of a sustainable fisheries policy which resulted in decline in fish-stock, overexploitation or over-fishing, indiscriminate fishing activities by deep-sea vessels, use of destructive nets, the problems which needed urgent attention.
The seminar demanded that the prices of fish products be increased as for the last 20 years or so the rate of fish and shrimp had not been raised, but the prices of necessary items in fish catching activity such diesel, oil, nets and boats have been increasing. The result is ever-increasing poverty and awful socio-economic conditions in the fishing community.
It also recommended that the role of the middlemen and fish traders be abolished from the market sphere to ensured fair prices. At the same time the contract system be abolished. The seminar also called for cancelling of all kinds of licences and permission which are issued to deep-sea fishing trawlers both foreign and locals.
It urged that a survey of fish-stock of coastal waters be conducted and a ban on the use of all kinds of destructive nets imposed, and effective measures taken to prevent over-fishing.
