Islamabad
National Assembly Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs met in the Parliament House on Thursday with MNA Mir Amer Ali Khan Magsi to discuss the agenda circulated vide Notice No.8 (1)/2019-Com-I (Vol-II) dated 11th October, 2019.
The Committee took notice of the rapidly depleting stocks of fish in Pakistan. All the management and regulation of local fishing boats is being done by the provincial fisheries department of Sindh and Balochistan, but there is no mechanism in the provinces to monitor the fishing activities of the local fishing boats.
In Balochistan, the fishing permit clearly shows that it is valid for fishing within the territorial waters of Balochistan, but in Sindh, Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority is issuing fishing permit for those fishing boats which are registered with them and it is open ended.
Majority of the fleet of boats of fishing is not sustainable. In this regard regulation and imposition of proper fishing gears is required by the provinces. The major cause of depletion is irregular fishing. In this regard the fishing policy is being reviewed and formulated and the same will be shared with the Committee.
The Committee recommended that government should take steps to take care of the indigenous fisherman present in Sindh and Balochistan. It was further told that the Prime Minister’s National Agriculture Emergency Programme address three sectors of fisheries. —INP
