KARACHI, March 6: The Deep-sea Fishing Trawler Operators Association (DFTOA) has refuted the allegation that deep-sea trawlers were responsible for the destruction of under-water resources and depletion of marine life.

Kamran Hameed, chairman of the association, strongly criticised the ongoing campaign against the deep-sea trawlers and claimed that in fact, it was the ‘sea-lords mafia’ which was playing havoc with the marine life and the fisheries sector in addition to the natural and man-made pollution.

Talking to Dawn, he pointed out that the mafia controlled a vast area of the country’s territorial waters, coastline and coastal towns. He claimed that the mafia patronized illegal practices, including fishing with prohibited nets, which ultimately led to the rapid depletion of fish species.

He claimed that influential figures of Sindh and Balochistan were in league with the unscrupulous elements who continue to violate the ban on sophisticated nets. He recalled that an official monitoring team had recently found that in Ghaorochand area alone, no less than 25 truck-loads of juvenile fish and shrimps were being sent to fish meal factories in Karachi every day.

As such practices caused heavy damage to the sea resources, he argued, the vested interests come out with a hostile campaign against the deep-sea trawlers, especially when the fisheries sector plunged into a crisis. He said that the mafia shifted the blame on trawlers to cover up its own wrongdoings.

Mr Hameed, referring to the legal status of deep-sea fishing trawlers, defended the trawlers operation and pointed out that a number of official agencies were there to monitor their activities. These agencies and some other institutions, he added, worked under an established tracking system to ensure that the trawlers did not violate their own jurisdiction. He said that small boat operators and other fishermen had been allotted specific zones and the trawlers did not enter into them for fishing purpose. The two sides, he added, had no conflict over their areas of operation.

He insisted that the depletion of fish stock in the country’s territorial waters had nothing to do with the operation of the trawlers.

Referring to other factors in this regard, he mentioned that pollution was to be held responsible and natural cycle had to be kept in mind.

Mr Hameed pointed out that no less than 200,000 tons of sewage, hostile to marine life, was being disposed of into the sea every year besides untreated industrial waste and domestic garbage.

This massive pollution, he said, either eliminated the underwater resources or force the fish and shrimp to migrate to ‘safe havens’.

He observed that the country’s coastline had suffered an extensive damage also due to the destruction of mangroves sites again due to the pollution. Mangroves, he added, provide feed to the marine life and also breeding-friendly environment.

Yet another reason for the shrinking fish stock was scarcity of fresh water which, in the past, was being flown into the Indus delta every year regularly. Absence of rains and shortage of fresh water input in Indus river had destroyed not only the mangrove habitat but also the entire ecosystem in the coastal areas.