Key fisheries stakeholders are meeting Tuesday (today) to finalise the mesh size for fishing in the country's seawaters with a view to scale down the rising landing of undersized fish and shrimp, officials said on Monday. The unchecked netting of fish and shrimp by fishermen has drastically reduced the chief marine species in the country's maritime belt, they said, adding that the government was contemplating on introducing a new size of mesh to overcome the decline.
They said the undersized species were being sold on the local market as "trash" which had no use for human consumption, resultantly a number fish and shrimp species had largely reduced. They said the government had to find ways to improve the number of species in its waters.
According to officials, white and black Pomfret, Dhother, Suwa, Dandia, Surmai, Heera, and shrimps had witnessed a sharp fall in recent years because the fishermen were using small sized meshes to trawl the seabed. Officials of Karachi Fish Harbour Authority, Marine Fisheries Department, Fishermen Co-operative Society, seafood exporters, fishermen and boat owners are holding the meeting to reach consensus on the net size. "After finalising the mesh size, all the existing nets would be banned for fishing in the country's seawaters," they said.
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