April 01, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, 1428

KARACHI, March 31: Stakeholders are trading allegations holding each other responsible for the delisting of 11 seafood processing units by the European Commission (EC).

As a result of this the country is expected to lose 25-30 per cent share of fish products to the EU market out of total exports of $196 million a year.

The European Union will stop consignments coming from Pakistan on European borders from April 12, 2007 onward as an outcome of an FVO inspection of Pakistani boats, landing areas and approved establishments in the last week of January 2007.

Exporters are not satisfied with the role of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) and Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) while the government officials are not ready to accept the responsibility of seafood ban by the EC.

However, the exporters are also not happy over the role of Economic Minister of Pakistan in Brussels Tariq Puri.

They said that Mr Puri had informed the exporters and the government that he had saved Pakistan in a way that 11 fish processing plants were de-listed from the approved list rather than “a possible minimum five year complete ban on seafood exports.”

According to exporters, the economic minister had visited the European Commission office where he was informed about the outcome of January visit of FVO Mission to Pakistan.

Mr Puri is reported to have informed the government in second week of February that the EC inspection team had found serious deficiencies like structural deficiencies, lack of HACCP implementation, lack of traceability of raw materials and poor fish processing.

Executive committee member of Pakistan Seafood Industries Association (PSIA) and Director Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS), MNA Capt. Syed Akhlaq Hussain Abdi told Dawn that the exporters were shocked to hear Mr Puri’s telephonic conversation from Brussels in a private TV channel show in which he explained as to how the EC ban had been diverted towards the processing plants. “Mr Puri does not have the right to compromise on the export of Pakistan,” Mr Abdi added.

He said exporters were also irked over the silence of ministry of food on this issue. Even the owners of the delisted plants are not happy over the role played by the Minfal and MFD, he added.

He disclosed that the MFD had been continuously inspecting these plants and found them fit except one unit as per requirements before their delisting by the EC.

Surprisingly, the MFD had been saying that the EC mission members were satisfied with work of competent authority then why they did not trust the inspection passed by competent authority and opted to de-list all establishments, he questioned.

On the day when EC team conducted inspection all the boats and auction hall were found in compliance and hygienically acceptable and no serious defects were observed. Akhlaq said that Pakistan had intact traceability of raw materials and all transactions were recorded but due to some bad planning of the MFD it created questions with the EC inspectors.

Minfal and the MFD do not convey the right thing to the exporters and even the officials do not understand the rules and regulations of the EC regarding quality maintenance, he said.

He recalled that the MFD had self-imposed a ban on March 2005 (February to August) in fear that the EC may impose a ban but it did not happen and later on the MFD allowed exports.

The guarantees given by the government in the past had also been more than the basic requirements under the rules which are already complied by most of the boats, he observed. “There is no need to say that we have only a few boats which can qualify for EU destined material which is basically the crux of the problem mishandled by our authorities in the past”.

He urged the government to get the final report from the EC and inform the owners of the delisted plants about the deficiency reports and should arrange inspections of these plants and send immediate report for re-listing.

Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) should educate all the boat owners through FCS and give them a timeframe of short period like three months to bring their boats to the standard acceptable under the directive 853/852/178 and after elapse of time must stop to issue fishing permits to non-compliant boats, he said.

KWSB should provide a new 12-inch water line and give connections to all factories and jetties and auction hall for clean water. KWSB should also ensure supply of clean water to all ice factories who registered themselves with KFHA and supply ice to boats and market.

MFD should inspect the catch brought by vendors from other landing jetties in Sindh and Balochistan and verify freshness of the catch and record accompanying such material and only chilled material at melting ice temperature brought in insulated boxes be allowed for entrance to harbour.A senior official looking after fisheries affairs in the Minfal told Dawn from Islamabad that it was actually the fault of the fish processing plants who failed to maintain hygienic conditions and quality control despite repeated note of caution from the government.

“EC mission had found serious deficiencies in the establishments then what Minfal and MFD can do about it. It is not the fault of the ministry,” he said.

Exporters were educated people and had invested millions of rupees. They knew how to maintain EU quality and hygienic standards in a competitive world market and follow guidelines but unfortunately they failed to maintain it, he added.

The ministry and the MFD had done their best for the exporters and it was wrong to blame the government for EC ban on seafood, he said.