Government fixes minimum mesh size of fishing net at 60mm

The government has finally fixed the minimum mesh size for fishing at 60 mm with a view to get rid of the thin lethal cod-end nets, which have badly affected marine life in the country's seawaters, fisheries sources said on Monday.
They said the government would issue a notification during this week to ask the fishermen to employ fishing nets with a mesh size of 60 mm while implementation on the decision would take place from August 1, 2012 - a new fishing season.
"All fisheries stakeholders were part of the final round of fishing net testing to determine the mesh size for fishing on the Arabian Sea to discard the old and lethal nets which have badly affected the growth of fish and shrimp species, besides the marine life," source said. The last cruise for nets test had been made on last April 7 in Karachi seawaters, they said.
They said the government would enforce the decision of mesh size in all parts of the province where fishing was done either in rivers, lakes or sea. "The mesh size of fishing nets for fishermen in the province is now 60 mm," they added.
They said the third and final round of mesh test had been successful as the stakeholders participated in the experiment were satisfied with the determined size, with a hope the new nets would help the country's marine species grow maximum.
The fisheries key stakeholders had stressed on the need of undertaking a third round of fishing net test before finalising the mesh size to discard the use of existing lethal cod-end nets that left the country's marine species badly affected. They had also held a meeting to reach an agreement in this regard.
The fisheries sources told Business Recorder that the cost of each net test cruise was about Rs 250, 000. They said it was the third and last experiment cruise for net test while such kind of two trips the marine experts and stakeholders had already made.
The stakeholders particularly the boat owners had emphasised on carrying out the final round of the trial with an increased mesh size, as the previous measurement of net was about 55-millimetre with a view to give maximum space to juvenile fish and shrimp species to escape the trap, according to those who were parts of the meetings.
Catch of undersized fish and shrimp species by local fishermen had grown excessively in the last several years, as the practice continued unchecked by the concerned departments, sources said. They said a huge decrease in landing of matured fish and shrimp species had been witnessed at the fisheries for the last some years. According to an estimate of fisheries sector, some 50 to 70 trucks carry the trash every day.