KARACHI, March 7: Despite being a major source of revenue generation, the fisheries sector is being ignored by the authorities and most fishermen villages are deprived of basic needs such as potable water, electricity, health and education facilities.

Pakistan’s coastline is about 1,050 kilometre-long of which about 350km lies in Sindh. Fishermen villages are along the sea coast.

This long coastal belt is, however, underdeveloped with limited job opportunities and sources of income.

The major concern of fishermen is the declining catch which is not only due to deep-sea trawlers, but also to illegal fishing techniques used by local fishermen.

Abdur Razzaq Siddiq, member, Karachi City Council, and the chairman of its fisheries committee, expressed concern at the return of foreign trawlers, frequent and excessive use of banned nets such “bhulo gujjo” and “katra” and said people associated with fisheries saw their future as bleak.

He emphasized the need for modernization and strict regulations, saying these steps were necessary to protect the future of thousands of fishermen and their families.

According to unofficial sources, about 3,000 Karachi-based launches are using prohibited nets along the Sindh and Balochistan coast causing destruction of marine life.

Officially, the Sindh and Balochistan governments have placed a ban on harmful nets and other harmful fishing practices, but the ban is not being implemented by the fisheries departments of the two provinces due to technical flaws.

The chairman of the Fisher Folk Forum, Mohammed Ali Shah, said fishermen from Ibrahim Hyderi lodged several complaints with the Sindh fisheries department against the use of banned nets, but their complaints went unheeded.

After this some of them burnt a few nets of the banned varieties. This was, however, no solution to the problem, he added.

According to Razzaq Siddiq, there is a big demand for fish and other seafood around the world. Japan alone imported about fish worth 17 billion US dollars, and the USA, European and other countries also imported fish and other seafood worth billions of dollars.

Pakistan seafood exports in the financial year 2000-2001 was 13.77 million US dollars, but now it has declined.

Mr Razzaq said Pakistani seafood were priced at about six US dollars a kg whereas other countries sold theirs for about 20 US dollars a kg in the international market.—PPI