KARACHI, March 5 An incident of firing on a Karachi-based fishing boat in the early hours of Friday in Jiwani, off the coast of Makran, created unrest among boat owners and fishermen at the Karachi Fish Harbour who refused to go on fishing trips unless they were provided with security. The fishermen anchored their boats near the harbour channel and halted all fishing activities.

According to the reports reaching here, a Karachi-based boat, Mohammadi, was fired upon near Jiwani while it was on a fishing trip. The head of the boat crew was wounded in the firing.

When the fishermen at the Karachi Fish Harbour came to know about the incident they stopped operating their vessels and staged a protest against the incident and blamed the Balochistan fisheries authorities for the incident.

They said that the Balochistan fisheries authorities were harassing Karachi-based trawlers on the pretext of illegally entering the water zone of Balochistan.

The uncertainty of the situation compelled Sindh Livestock and Fisheries Minister Zahid Ali to rush to the Karachi harbour to ease the tension.

He immediately called a meeting of all stakeholders of the fishing industry to settle the issue.

The meeting was attended by Fishermen Cooperative Society Administrator Mohammad Jafar Khawaja besides representatives of fishermen and boat owners.

The minister briefed the participants about the deliberations and proposals discussed in a meeting in Islamabad regarding the fisheries sector.

He said that the meeting discussed the ongoing tussle between the Sindh and Balochistan fishermen.

In the light of the suggestion of the meeting, the minister assured the participants that the issue would soon be resolved.

The minister said the rights of Sindh-based fishermen would be fully protected.

He also assured them that he would discuss the matter with the officials of the Balochistan fisheries on Saturday.

On the assurance of the minister the boat owners and fishermen suspended their protest.

Demarcation of zones

In a separate communication sent to higher authorities, the stakeholders of Karachi-based fish industries demanded that the Maritime Security Agency (MSA) be authorised to determine and ascertain the limits of the 12 nautical miles of the Balochistan fishing zone if any violation from Sindh-based trawlers or boats was reported to have occurred.

The communication says that unless the violation of the limit of the fishing zone is verified by the MSA, no fine shall be imposed nor any punishment given by the Balochistan fisheries or any other provincial authority.

The Balochistan government must take the responsibility to ensure that no firing will take place on the Sindh-based trawlers even if they entered the limits of Balochistan waters.

It also says that the Sindh-based fishermen will not accept the conditional fine as boats captured by Balochistan authorities are forced to pay different amounts of fines and the penalty gets severer if the alleged violation reoccurs.

It also recommends that the payable fine should not be exorbitant but a token money affordable to all poor fishermen.

It also urges that if a boat is penalised or fined then the catch, legal nets, diesel and other belongings of fishermen should not be confiscated.The monthly fee of Rs10,000 per gillnetting Horas (small wooden boats) on fishing in Balochistan should be stopped and the Sindh-based Horas and gillnetters should be allowed to fish legally in Balochistan waters.

When the president of the Sindhi Mahigir Ittehad, Abuzar Mariwara, was contacted, he told Dawn that “a strong mafia” was behind the trouble of Karachi Fish Harbour.