KARACHI: Taking notice of long-standing concerns over depleting fish and shrimp stocks, the government of Balochistan has placed a ban on fishing in Safe Dori, a small creek within Miani Hor, which is known for its rich flora and fauna in Lasbela district.

This is the first no-fishing zone in Pakistan for conservation and protection of fish and marine species.

“The government of Balochistan is pleased to amend the Balochistan Sea Fisheries Rules 1971, Clause No 9, to the extent of declaring Safe Dori — with a total area of 1.79 square kilometres — as prohibited for fishing to protect fish biomass.

“No licensee can operate any fishing crafts or fishing gears in that area till further orders,” said a notification issued on Jan 25 by Fisheries Secretary Arshad Hussain Bugti.

The step involves efforts by non-governmental organisations — community-based Coastal Association for Research and Development — which obtained funds from the Mangroves for the Future Programme and conducted a study with the support of the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature-Pakistan to assess the biological potential of the area.

“This is a big positive step towards conserving our seriously threatened fish resources and will pave the way for declaring biodiversity hotspots like the Charna Island, Astola Island as well as Miani Hor, as protected,” said Mohammad Moazzam Khan representing WWF Pakistan.

According to him, fishery resources in the coastal and offshore waters of Pakistan have depleted and experts have recommended that the fishing fleet should be cut down by 50pc otherwise major fisheries in Pakistan might collapse.

Published in Dawn January 28th, 2017