KARACHI, Oct 31: The small fishermen living along Sindh and Balochistan coasts have urged the government to review its existing deep-sea policy which allows foreign large trawlers to fish in the country’s territorial waters.

They said the policy was instituted back in 1995 when Pakistan opened its maritime exclusive zone to foreign fishing companies. They maintained that small wooden boats using cotton nets could never match for the big automated trawlers using nylon and plastic nets being used by the foreign trawlers in catching fish.

They were of the view that the result of years of unfettered deep-sea fishing had been one of the key factors in depletion of quantity and variety of fish stocks in the country’s exclusive economic zone.

They regretted that all the successive governments including the present one defended the permission given to foreign trawlers on the pretext of export earnings without considering the long-term interests of the country.

The local fishermen, who have always accused the deep-sea trawlers of foraying into the fishing areas set aside for them, urged the government to take effective measures and ensure that such violations should not take place and that fishing zones set aside for local fishermen were not encroached upon.