KARACHI, Aug 16: Pakistan may face one to two million dollars loss per day from Thursday in case the Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) does not resume the issuance of certificate of health to fish exporters.

The MFD stopped issuing the certificate of health to 12 exporters for the last one week because of deteriorating hygienic conditions coupled with a restriction of lifting fishery products only from the K1 market in the area.

In a meeting on Wednesday, MFD director general Commodore S.Q. Raza assured the exporters of issuing certificate from Thursday, Akhlaq Hussain, a processor and exporter who attended the meeting, claimed.

Certificate of health issued by the MFD was a pre-requisite for export shipments destined for EU countries and without this exports to the EU was not possible, he told Dawn on Wednesday.

“In case the MFD does not issue the certificate, the country will lose one to two million dollars per day,” he said, adding that this was a hot season for shrimp export to EU countries which started from August 1 to the middle of September.

“The issue of maintaining hygienic conditions at the harbour is mainly concerned to the Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) and the Sindh government and it has nothing to do with the processors and exporters who are maintaining quality standards at their factories,” he pointed out.

On the issue of forcing the exporters to lift fishery products from the K1 market, he said the market lacked ample space problems and heavy rush created suffocation. He said the MFD had expressed concerns about the disparity in quantity being lifted by the exporters from the K1 market and the open market.

Regarding the visit of the EU team, he said the EU had no plans to visit Pakistan in 2006. They last arrived in February 2005 for inspection at the harbour and processing factories.

Meanwhile, sources at the MFD told Dawn that the department would only issue the certificate when the processors and exporters would provide a certificate ensuring that they were following the vendor development programme.

Besides, the MFD has also sought a certificate from the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) and the Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) to ensure that all fish and shrimp, destined for European countries, should be lifted from the K1 market. The FCS and KFHA should ensure the complete implementation regarding the quality and hygienic standards as prescribed by the EU.

The sources said the MFD had given seven days to the processors, exporters, FCS and KFHA to comply with the EU requirements. They said both the government bodies and exporters were following the EU requirement but they were too slow in implementing the full quality requirements.

The sources said a two-member EU team had visited the harbour secretly in May and they were not satisfied with the hygienic conditions at the harbour. The sources said the EU might undertake a re-inspection of the harbour and processing units any time. In case the harbour and processing units fail to live up to the expectation of European standards, the EU may impose a complete ban on Pakistan.