KARACHI: “If we keep on fishing the way we are doing right now, our children will only see fish in the aquarium as our waters will soon be devoid of marine life,” said Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo here on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a press conference regarding the result of the Fisheries Resource Assessment Project about deep-sea fishing at the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) head office.

The minister said the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the Maritime Security Agency (MSA) had carried out an extensive survey of our sea and marine life at a cost of $5.8 million. “We didn’t want the report to be lying around somewhere on a shelf, so we shared it with all the stakeholders to warn them of what’s to come if they don’t straighten up their act now. Our stocks in the sea are depleting fast,” said the minister.

“The biggest issue here is gill-netting, especially in the creek areas. Gill nets are banned internationally and yet we use them unchecked. Because of this a big part of our marine life has already become extinct and the rest is on its way to extinction,” he said, adding that the situation was alarming. “Because you don’t just catch fish in the gill nets, you also catch their eggs and their food — the smaller fish and plankton. And since this is not profitable catch, it is sold as fish meal and chicken feed,” he said.

‘A big part of our marine life has already become extinct’

“There is a need to raise awareness of all the harmful practices. Therefore the governments of Sindh and Balochistan need to carry out special measures to save our marine life. There is a specified time kept aside for the breeding season of fish when fishing is banned. That needs to be observed strictly. We are taking on board both the provincial governments to implement the laws [by] sending the survey report to their chief ministers. We have already forwarded the report to the prime minister.”

When asked about fishing boats from Iran and India also coming to Pakistani waters to fish, the minister said fishing trawlers of both the countries put together had not caused as much harm as our own fishing trawlers in our waters.

Asked about the fishermen living in the creek areas, and would they not starve if not allowed to use gill nets, the minister said those poor fishermen did not even have gill nets, nor did they fish in the big deep-sea trawlers. “Deep-sea trawlers are not even allowed to fish inside 12 nautical miles from land,” he said. It was also explained that the federal government had not issued any new deep-sea fishing licences to any foreign firms after 2005.

Earlier, many local fisherfolk gathered outside the KPT building to protest against deep-sea fishing. They said they knew very well the harm caused by deep-sea fishing trawlers in our waters. Many chanted slogans while holding up banners and placards with messages of awareness about the harmful practices of catching fish, which was also killing shrimps and prawns besides destroying their eggs, hatching and breeding areas and food, including seaweed and plankton. “Unacceptable! Unacceptable!” they chanted.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2017