KARACHI, Oct 7: Fishermen communities have urged the government to prepare a special plan for the development of coastal areas of Sindh so that they could find alternative means of income. Talking to Dawn, most fishermen, who live in Karachi coast in abject poverty, were of the view that the fisheries sector was under tremendous pressure and they could hardly meet their growing economic needs.

They said that due to economic backwardness and a lack of basic necessities and in the absence of an alternative source of income they were forced to live in abject poverty.

The community leaders complained that no government had ever taken seriously the grievances of this neglected segment of the society whose bare survival depends on fishing and most of the villages they live are without drinking water, electricity, health and education facilities.

Mohammad Soomar, an elderly small boat owner of Abdullah Village in Hawkesbay, also complained that local mechanised and foreign trawlers had ruined the coastal economy and brought untold miseries to small fishermen.

According to him, the unregulated fishing by the mechanised trawlers in the coast of Sindh had not only wiped out fish species, but these had also deprived small fishermen of their livelihood.

Despite repeated protest, the government did nothing to stop the harmful practice, which is still continuing.

He urged the government to act promptly by placing a complete ban on over-fishing by mechanised trawlers in the coast of Sindh and take appropriate measures to protect the interests of small fisherman by facilitating marketing facilities.

Several fishermen also complained that a major decrease had been noted in the fish species for the past few years due to the mechanised fishing introduced by local as wells as foreign trawlers. As a result, a number of fish species being in abundance in the past, have now completely become extinct.

A survey shows that each fisherman family has an average of 8 to 12 children. Due to a lack of alternatives means of income, these youngsters have been forced to find their livelihoods from the common resources of sea.

However, the major population pressure on the coastal livelihoods is exerted due to the entry of the people, belonging to other livelihood sectors, into the fisheries sector.

It is learnt that the first diversion of the major population towards the fishing sector was recorded with a decrease in the freshwater flow in the Indus River after the commissioning of various barrages, reservoirs and dams on it.

A study reveals that before the construction of such dams and barrages, the discharge from the river was large enough to push back the ocean currents up to over a hundred miles from the shore.

Due to this enormous quantity of fresh water and silt the river brought with it, the delta lands were believed to be the richest in the area. Agriculture was seasonal and the yields were high. Rice was the main crop and most of it was exported to the coastal regions of India and the Gulf states by boat. Fishing was then a minor activity. However, with the reduction in the freshwater flow, major ecological changes took place as a result of the sea moving into the delta channels.

With the disappearance of fresh river water, agriculture in the coastal belt became no longer possible. These changes forced the agricultural communities to shift their livelihoods to fisheries.

At present, all the communities who were previously engaged in the agriculture and livestock grazing have completely shifted their livelihoods towards the fisheries resulting in greater pressures on this sector because it was a source of livelihood for the community in the coastal regions of Sindh.

Considering these factors, most of the community leaders have called upon the government to prepare a special plan for the development of coastal area of Sindh to enable the fishermen communities to find alternative means of income.