KARACHI: Sindh Fisheries Minister Jam Khan Shoro has said stern action will be taken against packaging factories where the fish, regardless of its size, caught through banned fishing nets is found.

At present only fishing boats are checked and fishermen punished if fish caught in illegal nets is recovered but the scope of the checking is being widened with packaging factories to be sealed in case fish caught through illegal nets is found there, according to the minister.

“Such establishments will be sealed and stern action will be taken against their owners or operators,” said Mr Shoro while responding to a question by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz legislator Shafi Jamote during the question hour in the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday.

The question hour pertained to the fisheries department.

The minister, however, could not satisfy Mr Jamote who repeatedly asked what mechanism would be adopted to ascertain if the banned fishing nets had been used to catch the fish being confiscated. He insisted that the fish, regardless of its size, caught through fishing net having small mesh size, would be confiscated and stern action would be taken not only against the fishermen and fishing vessels but also against the factories etc. Eventually, Speaker Durrani advised the minister to invite the legislator and discuss the issue.

Responding to a question by Muttahida Quami Movement legislator Heer Soho regarding the status of the Rehabilitation of Pilot Shrimp Farm, Garho, as Training and Research Centre, the minister said the Rs261 million development scheme had not yet been completed and presently it was under review.

Asked if any Abiyana (water tax) was imposed and recovered from the private fish / shrimp farms using irrigation water, Mr Shoro said the fish farms used sea water, however, if any farm was using water supplied by the irrigation department the farms would be paying the Abiyana to the department.

MQM legislator Usman Shah wanted to know if the government farms / hatcheries were making profit. The minister informed the house that the farm / hatchery provided shrimp seeds to the private farmers at subsidized rates as it operated on a no-profit, no-loss basis.

In reply to a question asked by PML-Functional legislator Nusrat Sehar Abbasi regarding recruitment in the department, Mr Shoro said 196 people had been recruited in the department between Jan 1, 2010 and Aug 31, 2013. He could not provide details to her as to how many of those recruited were women but said he would provide the details the following day.

Muttahida legislator Mohammad Hussain asked about urban and rural quota system in jobs. The house was informed that the department maintained the quota system while conducting the recruitment while all rules related to advertisements in media, tests and interviews were followed. On Mr Hussain’s insistence for urban and rural details regarding the recruited people, Speaker Durrani asked the minister to provide complete list of the recruited people to the legislator along with the requested details.

Mr Jamote asked as to why various matters related to fishing including boat registration, fishermen’s registration / identity cards and port leaving permits were still being controlled / handled by the federal government despite passage of 18th amendment. Mr Shoro informed the house that it was a serious matter as security issues were involved in it. It was better that matters such as those related to boats and fishermen leaving the coast were handled by the federal government.

Responding to a question by Ms Abbasi regarding recovery of various charges including berthing of vessels etc from the fishermen, the minister said they were recovered under Control and Management Rules, 1991. He did not agree with a legislator who said the charges, which were very low and had never been changed since 1991, should be revised. The minister said the charges would not be enhanced as the poor fishermen would not be able to pay them.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014