By Arooj Zulfiqar

ISLAMABAD July 26: Aqua-farming has become all the more crucial for Pakistan to increase fish production to meet the growing consumption needs and generate revenues.

The country's economy and food security can be sustained with a robust growth in the fishing industry, which will also relieve pressure on the demand for mutton, beef and poultry.

Fishing is also a crucial source of income for those living along the coasts in the Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

Talking to WealthPK, Faisal Iftikhar, Chairman of the Pakistan Fisheries Exporters Association, Karachi, said, “Pakistan needs to concentrate on aqua-farming for quantity increase as it will enable us to improve our export revenues.”

He pointed out that quantity-wise, Pakistan’s seafood trade decreased during the previous fiscal year. “Last year, we conducted a detailed stock assessment survey in an effort to determine the cause of the quantity decline. Through this survey, we learned that 80% of our high-value protein stocks were being depleted. This is due to the use of illegal nets by local fishing vessels, which resulted in the capture of 80,000 to 90,000 kilograms of high-protein baby fish.”

Illegal fishing nets are those with small holes that also trap the baby fish.

Faisal Iftikhar maintained: “In terms of quantity, Pakistan’s seafood trade declined by 9.90% to 166,267 metric tonnes in the fiscal year 2021-22 compared to 184,543 metric tonnes in the fiscal year 2020-21.”

He further added: “The primary cause of our fish's extinction is the substitution of high-value proteins with low-value proteins, which means, we kill fish in order to grow chicken, because baby fish is used for chicken feed. If fishermen let the baby fish attain its full size, a boat, which usually catches 80,000 kilos of baby fish, can catch eight million kilos.”

“On a very extreme level, we are conducting fish genocide. Our fish business is being destroyed by the illegal use of nets by fishermen, and because of this, stock levels are decreasing over time.”

The Pakistan Fisheries Exporters Association chairman highlighted that most countries had focused on coastal farming and seafood farming to increase production. “Though Pakistan has a long coastline, it does not practice marine farming. Marine farming is possible along the coastlines of Sindh and Balochistan, but sadly the government has not given this area much attention.”

“We must adopt marine farming to stop the stock decline. The Sindh province’s Fisheries Development Board is making some progress in this regard, and hopefully, positive outcome will emerge,” he said.

“The government must withdraw taxes from the fishing sector for it to expand. Fishing nets should be upgraded, and the fishing fleet needs to be cut in half in order to stop stock depletion. We should catch fewer fish and make more money. For example, if we don't catch baby fish and wait for them to grow, our income will increase significantly,” he added.

He also suggested developing aquaculture villages with the government helping farmers to set up farms. “Such a farm can earn a farmer about $25,000 a year,” he pointed out.

Credits: INP-WealthPk