THE port of Karachi is one of South Asia’s largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60 per cent of the nation’s cargo. It is located in the Karachi harbour between Keamari and Manora, and close to Karachi Fisheries, the main business district and several industrial areas.

There are many large boats in Keamari that sail along Keamari, Manora and the Fisheries. In addition to large boats, there are about 1,000 small boats that are used by villagers who earn their bread and butter by catching fish.

Most of the fishermen rely on traditionally-built small boats and cannot fish during high tide due to the poor condition of their boats.

The small but scenic coastal village, Salehabad in Manora, has been inhabited by fishermen for centuries. With a population of more than 10,000 people, the village is still without basic amenities of drinking water, electricity and gas.

Fishing boats are in a bad shape and cannot be taken to the open sea as several such boats have already gone missing there. Fishermen do not have money to get their broken fishing boats repaired.

The government collects taxes worth billions of rupees from the fishing industry, but always ignores the basic problems of fishermen.

The government should address the genuine problems of the community. It should launch a package by providing them basic necessities as well as new boats to earn a living on a consistent basis.

Asif Yousuf Ali
Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2022