ALLAH says in the Holy Qur’an, “And take out the treasures, Allah has kept the treasures of the sea for mankind”. Undoubtedly, sea treasures play an important role in the country’s economy. Pakistan is among the lucky countries which are rich in marine treasures. Pakistan’s coastline is 1,000 kilometers long from Sir Creek to Jiwani and the economic zone is 240,000 square kilometers. Along with this, the continental shelf of 50 thousand square kilometers is also available.
In Baluchistan and Sindh, the sea is 5,734 and 5,266 kilometers respectively. Our water area is about 290,000 square kilometers, which is even bigger if Punjab, KPK are combined. 98% of Pakistan’s trade is through sea. While the improvement and development of the economy in modern trade is connected with the blue economy; water economy, which is the backbone of any country’s development. However, despite its importance, the government hasn’t prioritized it yet. Consider America and Great Britain, whose navy is called “Blue Water Navy”.
Currently, the GNP of blue economy worldwide is 2500 billion dollars. Unfortunately, despite Pakistan’s huge coastal line, our share is very less, i.e. only one and a half. It is a billion dollars, so one can estimate plight in marine development. On the other hand, not only India but also Bangladesh is ahead of us. Bangladesh’s GNP is 6 billion dollars, and India’s GNP is even more than that. Lack of heavy investment is the main reason.
Let’s know what is the blue economy? In 2012, this term came up for the first time. For economic development, the natural water resources in the sea boundaries and the associated economy have been named ‘Blue Economy’, which includes oil and gas reserves (offshore drilling), seafood, fisheries, shipping, tourism, coastal hotels, wind and solar energy from coastal winds, aquaculture, underwater minerals and precious stones, desalination plants for desalination of sea water, etc. Pakistan’s blue economy includes Karachi and Qasim ports, fisheries, oil terminals, export processing zones, Steel Mills, Gadani Shipbreaking Industries, Gwadar Port and Pak-China Export Processing Zone etc. There are two Conventions around the world regarding the Blue Economy, the first is the ‘Barcelona Convention System’ and the second is the ‘Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’ (OECD). Working under the Barcelona Convention contains comprehensive documents on fisheries, tourism, shipping and settlement of coastal cities. Its main idea is to promote human development without affecting the natural environment and marine eco-system.
Bangladesh has also surpassed us in our unmapped, unknown oceans. It is being said that by 2030 the world blue economy will reach 3 trillion dollars and within Pakistan it is 1.5 US dollars. India’s share is 70%, Bangladesh’s 26% and Pakistan’s share is 3.76%. Pakistan is considered among the 30 largest fishing countries in the world, out of which only 10% fish can be exported. Our fish value in the global market is 2.3 kg, Bangladesh’s is 5 dollars per kg. The main reasons for this are fish poaching and weak market infrastructure, fish packing, poor delivery quality and poor arrangements. No proper attention has been paid, and thus millions of dollars of profit making industry are being wasted.
After all, why don’t we focus on our own policies and performance instead of cheering for the development of others? Aquaculture to promote this sector, modernization of fishing, trade environment, packaging and processing, and other infrastructure needs to be improved. Only Bangladesh and India are currently dominating the South Asian market. For the first time in 2020, the year of Blue Economy was celebrated. At this time, the most important thing for Pakistan is the protection of its hidden treasures in the sea. Tourism is an important sector in maritime trade, more than 50% of tourism in the world is at sea, worldwide. 10% of GDP comes from tourism, 300 million jobs are provided by maritime travel and tourism.
Pakistan can also earn foreign exchange by promoting marine tourism. It is going through a critical period economically; and it can fix its economic issues if focus on this sector, instead of considering IMF. It should be noted that fish export capacity is many times higher and it can reach 3 to 5 billion dollars. And 14 more ports can be built including the beaches of ‘Jiwani’. The first port was built in 1887 and the second port was built after a long time in the 70s named Port Qasim, then a long period of time passes without development and Gwadar Port was built in 2003. Gwadar is a deep water port and a game changer whose importance acknowledged by world. It is important to both gulf and central Asia; thus, terms as ‘World Energy Corridor’.
Despite having such a great blessing, we are an unfortunate nation that we have failed to collect financial benefits from sea. In the last 76 years, it has been continuously ignored. Talking about merchant ships in Pakistan, 74 in 1970 have now reduced to 11. There is only one shipyard in Pakistan, 46 in India and 23 in Bangladesh. From 1953 until today, 5 thousand small and big ships were built in the shipyard, the largest ship Al-Abbas which was 28 thousand tons was inaugurated by President Ayub Khan at that time. It was a successful ship. Most of the ships used to come to Karachi. Now China is the first, India is the second and Bangladesh is the third. If only 10% of the trade for CPEC is transferred to Pakistan, then the trade of 350 billion dollars can be transferred to Pakistan as well. Along with it, Central Asia can also provide trade facilities to the countries through Afghanistan. Therefore, the development of the maritime sector is indispensable for the full use of the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor. Maritime economy and maritime security are linked together, if there is security, the blue economy will be stable. Agencies take action regarding security to promote the Blue economy. In fact, Pakistan Navy is continuously working for the promotion of blue economy along with maritime defence.
—The writer is contributing columnist.
