KARACHI, Nov 4: Small fishermen have urged the government not to allow the operation of deep-sea trawlers between 12 and 35 nautical miles from the shore.

Under the new deep-sea fishing policy, the marine area has been divided into three zones. These are Zone-I: between O and 12 nautical miles; Zone-2: between 12 and 35 nautical miles; and Zone-3: between 35 and 200 nautical miles.

The fishing rights in Zone-1 have been reserved for traditional small-scale fishermen of Sindh and Balochistan who can operate in this area, and Zone-11 have been reserved for the operation of medium-sized vessels.

Small fishermen feared that the highly sophisticated medium-sized vessels would not only harm the economy of local fishermen but would further jeopardize the already shattered marine environment.

They warned that such a policy would spell doom for nearly two million people — fishermen and their families in Sindh and Balochistan.

In May this year the government lifted a ban on deep-sea fishing despite opposition by small fishermen.

Previously, deep-sea fishing was allowed beyond 35 nautical miles off the shore. But small fishermen had urged the government to impose a complete ban on deep-sea trawlers by cancelling all the 30 licences issued by the government earlier.

The new deep-sea fishing policy imposing tougher penalties on violators needs an effective surveillance system for proper implementation, fisheries sources said.

They said it depended on the officials monitoring the fishing activities to enforce the rules efficiently and honestly. But, at the same time, these sources have certain reservations.

They maintained that the general experience was otherwise as it had been noticed that when there was an increase in the rates of fines, the dishonest got away simply by increasing the rates of bribes.

According to them, there are many rules given in the new policy which would require physical monitoring by low-paid government employees for whom it is not easy to resist the temptations of illegal gratification offered by big trawler operators.

All of the 30 foreign deep-sea fishing vessels whose licences had been cancelled are said to have breached all the rules in the book with impunity.

They could do it because Pakistan lacks the sophisticated expertise which is needed to check their malpractices, many of which are directly related to manipulation of legitimate gadgetry installed on the vessels.

A study shows that the policy proposes to increase the number of patrolling flights to three a week instead of the existing one for surveillance as part of the satellite-based global system. But, here too, it would all depend on the integrity of the personnel operating the patrol flights.

The logic of restricting fishing trawlers to 20 from the present 30 and that of Tuna trawlers to 50 looks sound if it is being done to make the monitoring more manageable and to stop the fish population from being seriously depleted or even wiped out by so many vessels fishing all at the same time.

Such a development would rob Pakistan of the full potential of its precious sea wealth by aggravating the problem of depletion resulting from overfishing in both the continental shelf and deep seawaters.

However, the proposal to allow medium-sized vessels of 100 to 250 gross registered tonnage at a royalty of 2,000 dollars a trip to fish within 12-35 nautical miles along with small fishermen has been opposed because, even within this range deep-sea fishing, a highly sophisticated activity needing sophisticated equipment, will continue.

Fishermen with simple boats could hardly be expected to exploit the full potential of this area. There are 2,881 such simple boats. Out of these 150 have already been registered for modification.

Of the 30 trawlers previously granted licences for deep-sea fishing only one was Pakistani. Ten of the trawlers were South Korean and another ten Chinese, and nine Taiwanese.

The deep-sea fishing policy announced heavier penalties for violation of rules and also mandatory installation of global positioning satellite to ensure that deep-sea fishing trawlers operate within limits to avoid any conflict with smaller traditional fishermen.

It has also increased the licence fee from Rs200,000 a vessel to Rs1 million a vessel a year. The penalty for violating the 35-200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone has been increased from Rs200,000 to Rs1m.

Similarly, trawlers found engaged in deep-sea fishing within the Exclusive Economic Zone will now have to pay a much higher penalty of Rs2m instead of Rs200,000 previously.

Failure to furnish report or information about the catch will now be liable to a penalty of Rs25,000 cruise instead of Rs10,000 previously.

The penalty of Rs50,000 a vessel has also been increased to Rs300,000 for egg-laden shrimp and lobsters.

The penalty for failure to have customs check at the ports has also been increased from Rs50,000 or confiscation of fish, or both, to Rs1m to ensure that all fish catch is duly reported.

Similarly, fish export through improper channel now carries a penalty of Rs1.5m instead of Rs600,000 a cruise.

The measures listed above show that the government intends to improve its revenue, seafood production and exports.

The important question is: How effectively the policy is going to be implemented? Secondly, which is also important, does the government has the means ways and funds to see that the deep-sea fishing trawlers, not known to obey the rules in the past, will follow the rules this time round?

Surely, the new policy announced three operating flights weekly compared to the existing once a week at present for surveillance. This will be monitored by the Maritime Security Agency (MSA). This means that the MSA will have to increase the number of aerial patrols requiring more manpower, aircraft and of course budget over an area which is too big.