The Ministry of food, agriculture and livestock (Minfal) has prepared a comprehensive plan for approval of economic co-ordination committee (ECC) to boost fisheries export, which has the potential to go up to one billion dollars annually, official sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday. The sources said that the plan includes upgradation of 12,000 to 13,000 fishing boats with the provision of modern freezing and storage facilities, healthcare of fishermen, better communications and export facilities etc.
For this purpose, the sources said, the ministry of commerce, Minfal and other financial institutions have lined up sufficient funds to provide Rs 0.5 million (each) to the qualified boat owners as SME on easy instalments, besides development of the Korangi fisheries harbour on priority basis.
The sources said that fishery is one of the important economic sectors in Pakistan. It plays an important role in providing livelihoods to the local communities. The country is bestowed with both inland as well as marine fisheries resources, However, marine fisheries of Pakistan account for about 79 percent of the country's total fish catch.
Pakistan's coastline of 1,050 kilometres is divided into two major areas on the basis of two provinces ie Sindh and Balochistan. Although Pakistan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends 200 nautical miles from the coast, the prime area for fisheries is the continental shelf.
Pakistan also possesses extensive inland water areas comprising the Indus River and its tributaries, a vast canal irrigation system, natural lakes, storage reservoirs and village ponds of varying size. Three of Pakistan's four provinces Punjab, Sindh, and NWFP possess inland fisheries resources.
However, the experts say that these resources are meagre, as compared to country's coastal fishery resources. In Sindh major inland catch of fish comes from Indus River, its canals, followed by its lakes like Manchar and Kinjhar Lake etc. Similarly, in Punjab majority of fish production comes from rivers, canals and reservoirs like Mangla and Chashma, connected to the head-works of irrigation barrages. In NWFP the fish catch mainly comes from rivers and Tarbela Dam.
The annual fish production in Pakistan is about 665,000 metric tons, out of which the share of marine fisheries was 480,000 metric tons. The main fish species being caught by the traditional and industrial fisheries, especially from the coastal zones of Pakistan, include various kinds of fish, shellfish including shrimps, lobsters, crabs, and mollusks etc. Fish has emerged as one of the major sources of export earning for Pakistan. Fish and fishery products are processed and exported to over 50 countries. About 30 to 35 percent of the fish and fishery products are exported to European Union countries, Japan, USA.
FISHERFOLK POPULATION: The experts say that fisheries sector in Pakistan provides employment to about 300,000 fishermen directly. In addition, another 400,000 people are employed in ancillary industries. Majority of coastal fisherfolk lives in the coastal region of Sindh, Pasni, Ormara and Gadani.
According to agricultural statistics, more than 20,000 various types of boats and trawlers are busy in exploiting the marine fish resources of the country. Out of those 6,324 are sailboats, 2,522 trawlers, 3,398 gill-netters, and 7,945 mechanised sailboats.
Similarly, more than 17,000 small and big fishing boats are engaged in the fishing in the inland fisheries resources of the country. Those include 13,506 sailboats, 3,669 rowboats, and 514 mechanised cum-sail boats.
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