KARACHI: The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) organised a provincial conference on the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14, which is about conserving and sustaining the oceans and marine resources, at a local hotel here on Wednesday.

The conference, presided over by director general of marine fisheries Ali Muhammad Mastoi, was also attended by civil society representatives, researchers, media persons, youth, fishing and peasant community representatives from Karachi, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Jamshoro and Hyderabad districts.

PFF chairman Mehran Ali Shah said that the federal government must refrain from processing licences for deep-sea vessels under a policy to fish in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) around 20 miles off the coast in Sindh and Balochistan.

He said that the expansion of fishing into the deep sea was a grave threat to the livelihood of poor fishermen and marine ecology and if the provincial assemblies had not approved the deep-sea fishing policy, then it was also a violation of the Constitution.

Mr Mastoi said that the use of harmful nets in inland as well as marine fisheries in Pakistan was destructive for the sustainability of fish reserves. He said that the Sindh government appreciated PFF’s advocacy and lobbying efforts and community mobilisation for discouraging the use of harmful fishing nets.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2022