KARACHI, March 21: The elected directors of the Fishermen Cooperative Society on Monday lashed out at the federally- controlled Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) which is responsible for issuing NOCs to the processing units for export purposes.

A hard-hitting statement has been issued by the elected directors after the visit of the EU mission to Karachi fish harbour on Jan 31 last when the Marine Fisheries Department slammed the Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KFHA) and Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) for not maintaining hygienic conditions at the harbour. Since then a crisis is reportedly brewing up at the harbour.

In the statement, the FCS directors condemned the role of the MFD in fisheries sector, saying “it is washing its dirty linen in public” by shifting blame on the Sindh government, the KFHA and the FCS.

Referring to EU mission’s visit to the Karachi Fish Harbour, the directors said a new look had been given to market hall and steps were taken to improve the general conditions at the harbour by the FCS in active cooperation with the KFHA.

According to them, the conditions of our fish harbour could be compared to any harbour in Japan, China, New York, Thailand, Philippine and Istanbul.

Clarifying the purpose of the visit of the EU inspectors, they said it was to “re-assess” the role of the MFD whether it is pursuing EU requirements in the evaluation of processing units.

The directors pointed out that the boats inspected by the EU inspectors were selected by the MFD officials themselves who got them modified from the Sindh Trawler Owners Association under their own supervision.

Moreover, every recommendation for the fish market and harbour was implemented with their consent and there was no complaint on the inspection day as everything was perfect.