KARACHI: Contract system in fisheries to be abolished by July
By Faiza Ilyas
KARACHI, MAY 30: The contract system in the inland fishing zones will be abolished on July 1 and a notification in this regard will be issued soon. This was stated by Director-General Livestock & Fisheries, Sindh, Ghulam Mohammad Mahar while speaking at the “national conference on fisheries & fisherfolk-friendly policies and practices” held here on Wednesday. The conference was organised by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) in collaboration with Oxfam GB Pakistan at a local hotel.
Mr Mahar also assured the delegates and the fisherman community that there would be no auction of water bodies from June this year. “The decision is in line with the Sindh chief minister’s promise which he made a month ago while addressing Badin’s fishermen at Zero Point,” he said.
He said the government was fully aware of the problems being faced by the fisherman community and was making efforts to solve them.
Earlier, members of the fisherman community raised a host of issues confronting them, and urged the government to take immediate measures to save the livelihood of over four million people which, they maintained, was at stake due to depleting fish stocks, increasing pollution, reduction in the Indus water flow downstream Kotri Barrage, sea intrusion, use of banned nets, contract system, deep-sea fishing by trawlers and, above all, exploitation at the hands of influential figures, including personnel of the law-enforcement agencies.
Deprived of basic facilities, these communities are living in subhuman conditions due to government indifference towards their problems which can be gauged from the fact that no fishing policy has ever been made to upgrade this sector and address the concerns of the community which contributes billions of dollars to the national exchequer, according to them.
The fishermen expressed concern over the delay in abolishing the contract system, and said that one month had passed since the chief minister’s announcement in this regard but a notification to this effect was yet to be issued.
They demanded reintroduction of the licence system to ensure ownership rights for fishermen, and called for legislation against the contract system. The condemned the occupation of coastlines by the law-enforcement agencies in Badin and Hawkesbay and termed the act ‘illegal’.
They also condemned exploitation of fishermen by middlemen, and stressed that fishermen must get a reasonable price for their catch. Protesting the deep-sea fishing by foreign trawlers, they noted that their operation had been playing havoc with marine resources and eliminating commercial fish species. In this context, they urged the community members to refrain from using the banned nets and hazardous equipment.
“The socio-economic plight of fisherfolk of Pakistan is a reality. Their extremely poor economic status, which is the result of the unsustainable exploitation of fish resources, and the sheer apathy on the part of government have put their very existence in jeopardy. Each and every village of the fisherman community is a picture of neglect as they are deprived of their basic rights to education and health. There is no proper facility of safe drinking water either,” they complained.
Terming Badin ‘the most devastated area of fishing community’, they said sea intrusion had wreaked havoc in that region, forcing hundreds and thousands of people to give up their ancestral livelihood and migrate to other provinces. The Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) had exacerbated environmental degradation while multinational companies appeared unwilling to employ local people. Effluent from sugarcane mills was also destroying groundwater.
They demanded compensation to Chotiari Dam affectees in Sanghar and financial support from government during off-season. They also called for amendments to the by-laws of the Fishing Cooperative Society that could allow induction of more fishermen representatives and restrict the role of government officials in decision-making.
They urged the government to conduct a survey of the fishing stocks and consult fishermen’s representative bodies before formulating a policy on fisheries.
One of the speakers alleged that 10,000 acres belonging to 26 fishermen villages right from Alla Banu village (Deh Mand) up to Mubarak village had forcibly been occupied by a law-enforcement agency and the villagers were not being allowed to construct cemented house there.
A detailed account of the draft of Sustainable Fisheries Policy in Pakistan prepared by the PFF in consultation with civil society organisations was also presented on the occasion.
The conference was addressed by PFF chairman Mohammad Ali Shah, General Secretary Khuda Ganj Baloch, Saeed Baloch, Mustafa Mirani and others, besides directors of the Fishermen Cooperative Society Haji Shafi Mohammad Jamote and Habibullah Khan Niazi.
