KARACHI, Aug 26: Fish exporters have received enquiries from their foreign buyers after oil spill in Karachi sea this month from the aground and half broken and half sunk ship Tasman Spirit but there have been no cancellation or deferment of export orders.
“Fish catch remains normal between 400 to 600 tons a day in and there is regular shipment of fish export consignments to foreign countries,” the Chairman of Export Promotion Bureau Tariq Ikram told Dawn by telephone on Tuesday.
Tariq Ikram, also a state minister, chaired a meeting on Monday with officers of the Marine Fisheries, Karachi Port Trust, Sindh government and leaders of the fish industry. He said enquiries made with all these segments of fish trade revealed that “it is business as usual” after some initial hick ups following the oil spill in the sea.
Fish export consignments are being certified by the Marine Fisheries as usual but the EPB Chairman now wants a special PNHA test to be done to make foreign buyers more confident about the safety of consumption. The Marine Fisheries will be given special equipment for this purpose.
Fish Marine continues to collect sample of sea water and of the fish every day for necessary test and certification.
He said that the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation had not yet given Load Port report and Land Port report of the oil tanker Tasman Spirit despite many reminders.
Tariq Ikram said that oil spill covers about five kilometres from the coast. “This is no fishing ground,” he pointed out and stated that fish are netted from deep seas where no signs of any contamination were found.
The Sindh government has declared contaminated areas banned for fishing. The Monday meeting found that Sindh government is not capable of implementing its fish ban on the areas and the federal government was being asked to make this ban effective on all such areas.
He quoted experts who observed that Iranian light crude had low viscosity and did not take a longer period to disintegrate. The chemical spray would not take this oil layer to the sea bed. But it would hang a meter above the sea bed and would not cause any suffocation to the marine life.
Tariq Ikram suggested to the government to form a permanent crisis management committee, which should frame a standard operating procedure to meet contingencies which can arise from different situations.
Pakistan exported fish and shrimp worth over $130 million during last fiscal year. Fish export target for the current fiscal year has been set at $150 million.
During 2002-03 Belgium was the biggest fish buyer from Pakistan where about $20 million of fish was exported. China, Japan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Malaysia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Spain, Italy, Bahrain, Greece, Indonesia, Jordan, Philippines, UK, South Korea, US, Netherlands, Thailand, France, Canada and Singapore were some of the regular markets for Pakistani fish and shrimp.
In his presentation to an international seminar on “Investment opportunities in Sindh” this month in Karachi the provincial Chief Secretary Dr Mutawakkal Kazi said the marine and fresh water fish production in Pakistan was 670,000 tons a year. Sindh’s share in this production was 66 per cent. In value terms share of Sindh in Pakistan’s fish and shrimp export was 83 per cent.