Javed Siddique
A large number of people work as fishermen in the coastal areas of Pakistan, especially of Balochistan. Some of them have wittingly chosen this uncertainty-ridden profession with potential inclination, whereas a raft of them has adopted it because they have no better alternatives given the long backwardness of the province. Many of the fishermen are plagued by bouts of swelling adversities owing to deliberate official negligence and indifference to this field.
In Pakistan, the potential seafood sector has a huge export potential. Rising from $218m in FY08 to $370m in FY14, export earnings from fish and fish preparations rose by a handsome 11.6pc a year on average. But years of illegal and improper fish hauling, bare minimum processing and a lack of aggressive marketing particularly in Balochistan relentlessly continue to keep the export growth slower than what it should be. Illegal fishing and smuggling in Balochistan have continued to disruptively hit the formal trade to the maximum.
Since a large number of fishermen are utterly uneducated, they consider their profession relatively profitable. In the retrospect, the fishermen could catch an adequate amount of fish in nearby sea waters without venturing into the deep sea. However, the situation has changed to the discomfiture of these hapless fishermen that now they have to unwilling go far enough in the sea. Therefore, they mostly fail to accumulate enough fish, thus wasting the money spent on the miscellaneous expenses of the boats.
Failure in catching enough fish leave most of the fishermen bereft of needed finance to smoothly continue the rest of their business. Resultantly, they unwillingly resort to taking finances from some exploitive middlemen. The middlemen provide them with nets, engines of small boats and finance. In return, the former blatantly exploit the latter by purchasing their fish at a low rate. Such practices are emblematic of exploitive capitalism which aims to control the finances of the poor. In most of such cases, a large number of middlemen make fishermen debtor and then rule over them at well.
One of the major back-breaking problems of the fish-catching community in Balochistan is conspicuously rampant and illegal smuggling of Iranian oil. It is imperative to note that sanctions-hit Iran is selling oil at throwaway prices to the boats of Balochistan so as to yield some revenues. The same oil is smuggled to war-torn Afghanistan for NATO via the land route of Pakistan. In the process of uploading oil into tankers, a significant amount of oil falls into sea water, thus inhibiting and killing fish. This illicit practice in the direct collusion with the government officials has resulted in adversely impacting the already strained livelihood of the fishermen in the province.
According to some credible sources, a large number of personnel from the fishery department, the customs and the coast guards take bribes and allow these illegal practices in Makran’s coastal range.
Apart from that, the illegal practice of trawlers in Balochistan’s littoral areas by the fishermen of Karachi has increasingly dwindled the amount and different kinds of fish in the sea. Trawlers use plastic nets which clean the bottom of the sea from each and everything. The more worrisome aspect of this episode is that most of the time illegal fish haulers catch both grown-up and juvenile fish, which naturally slows down the breeding process in some pockets. This leaves the sea bereft of fish for the fishermen of Balochistan, thereby exacerbating financial miseries of these hapless people. According to some credible sources, a large number of personnel from the fishery department, the customs and the coast guards take bribes and allow these illegal practices in Makran’s coastal range.
Most fishermen in Balochistan are oblivious of needed hygienic environment in and around the fish-processing areas. As a result, it negatively affects the quality and price of fish at the international markets. That is why the European Union placed a six-year ban on fish imports from Pakistan. Although the ban was lifted late last year, the threat of its re-imposition remains.
Unlike in the developed countries, the fishermen of Balochistan have been deprived of their fundamental right of security to their declining profession. If stringent measures are further delayed, hundreds and thousands of fishermen will become jobless, thus instigating socio-economic issues for the province.
The government should take prompt measures to facilitate the fishermen of Balochistan. It should also crack down on trawlers and all forms of illegal fishing in the coastal areas of the province. More importantly, stringent actions must be taken to stop the smuggling of Iranian oil.
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