LAHORE, July 5: The government has decided to lay down a proactive strategy for capturing more share of shrimp business in the world market by promoting shrimp farming alongside the coastal line in Sindh and Balochistan.

This was decided at a meeting here with Tariq Ikram, chairman of the Export Promotion Bureau in the chair. Smeda chief executive officer Shahab Khawaja was present. The EPB chairman stressed the need for chalking out a national roadmap to promote the shrimp farming.

In this regard, he said that besides setting up new hatcheries, the existing ones should also be revived as viable business ventures. He suggested efforts to bring in the private sector as a key player in this field so as to promote the shrimp farming purely on commercial basis.

According to a study presented by Smeda manager Naresh Kumar, Pakistan had a coastal line of over 1,100 km whose 70 per cent part belonged to Balochistan and the rest was situated in Sindh.

The marine fisheries sector is the source of employment for 300,000 fishermen and 400,000 workers in ancillary industries both in Sindh and Balochistan. The world is producing about three million tons of shrimps every year in various types and species, out of which around 50 per cent come from the farms.

Thailand, Ecuador, Indonesia, China, India, Vietnam and Bangladesh are the major producers of farmed shrimp. Whereas, the main buyers are the US, Japan, the Gulf and the European Union. The report revealed that the stock of shrimps in Pakistan's sea limits was going to reduce with the passage of time. -APP