Government must Re-examine fishing policy |
01.03.2004 |
The fishing communities living along Sindh and Balochistan’s coast are justified in asking the federal government to review its existing policy of allowing deep-sea fishing in the country’s territorial waters.
Instituted back in 1995, the policy opened Pakistan’s maritime exclusive economic zone to foreign fishing companies. The small rickety boats and cotton nets of the local fishermen are no match for the big automated trawlers and nylon or plastic nets that the foreigners use in catching fish.
The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, a representative body of the local community, has said that the result of years of unfettered deep-sea fishing is a significant depletion in the quantity and variety of fish stocks in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). However, this government and the one before it which introduced the policy have defended the permission given to foreign trawlers as a success story, claiming that this is one reason why export earnings from this sector have increased.
While developing the fisheries sector is a no doubt a good way of tapping into the vast export potential of Pakistan’s maritime resources, the fact is that the policies which seek to do that must be balanced and sustainable.
The interests of the local fishing industry, which employs close to 300,000 people, should be taken into account. The local fishermen accuse the deep-sea trawlers of foraying into the fishing areas set aside for the local fishermen.
The government should ask the Maritime Security Agency, the Coast Guard and the navy to patrol the boundaries of the fishing zones to ensure that such violations do not taken place and that the fishing zone set aside for the local fishing boats are not encroached upon.
A limit on the catch of the deep-sea trawlers should also be set so that fish stock is not seriously depleted. Fishing round-the-year should not be allowed since that might endanger hatcheries and cause species to die out, at least from the EEZ. Also, the government should ask the trawler operators to stop using finely woven nylon or plastic nets because they pick up small fry along with the intended catch.
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