KARACHI: Sindh government has shown a keen interest in taking over Korangi Fish Harbour to operate it properly as the Federal government has visibly failed to do so. The Korangi Fish Harbour is a new facility built to assist the Karachi Fish Harbour (KFH). The Harbour is managed by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal).

The Sindh Fisheries Minister, Zahid Bhurgari, after consulting with the provincial authorities, visited the Korangi Fish Harbour recently. He met the concerned officials at the Korangi Harbour to find out about the main causes behind the delayed operation.

The Sindh Fisheries minister is trying to convince the community people, to shift their boats to the Korangi Fish Harbour from the KFH, even though they were reluctant to do so. However, at present the Sindh government is taking measures to make it operational as soon as possible.

The project was set up with the financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank, equivalent to $30 million in 1995. The total cost of the project was Rs938.139 million. A 709-metre-long jetty had been constructed with an effective water front structure of one km to facilitate the operation of 408 vessels of various sizes to catch 92,000 metric tonnes of fish annually.

All the federal ministers (Minfal) earlier made good efforts and utilized their sources to start the much-delayed operation of the Korangi Harbour to reduce the burden of the KFH but all went in vain.

The former Federal Minister for food, agriculture and livestock, Khair Muhammad Junejo also made similar assurances in 2002 to start the operations at the Korangi Fish Harbour. The harbour had been constructed especially for deep-sea fishing, although due to the shift in the policy it had been halted for a number of years.

Earlier, it was assured at the government level that all the facilities would be made available for the migration of boats from the KFH to the Korangi Fish Harbour. An agreement with the Sindh government was also reached to shift 500 boats in the first phase but no practical step has been taken so far, the sources added.

The sources in the fisheries sector said that the local boat owners are still hesitant to shift their boats to the Korangi Harbour because that will increase their fuel costs, since the processing units and markets are available at the KFH. At present the government is not properly assisting the community people, who are mounting pressures to resolve their problems.

Similarly, according to sources the level of the jetty built at the Korangi Fish Harbour was designed particularly for the deep-sea trawlers. Hence, the small and medium-sized boats can not pursue fishing there due to its high level. These traditional fishing boats need a separate jetty to make the harbour fully operational.

The Sindh government wants to hire fishermen, especially those residing close to the Korangi Fish Harbour. However, the boat owners are still hesitant to relocate because of the unavailability of the facility, including the market, seafood processing units, engine repairing etc.

The sources said the boats must be shifted to the Korangi Harbour to reduce the burden at the KFH, as the congestion is creating problems for it.

The Fisheries Department Secretary, Nasrullah Larik allegedly said the local sea-lords are the ones creating hurdles. They are running their own private jetties at Ibrahim Hyderi and exploiting the poor fishermen. They (the influential) purchase fish from the boat owners at a lower cost at their jetties and then resell the product at a much higher price at the Karachi harbour.

“These people have made it into a business and they do not prefer to keep the Korangi Fish Harbour operational in order to benefit the local fishermen,” the secretary stated. He said the Sindh government wants to ban the illegal, Jamot Jetty in Ibrahim Hydri because it has become essential for assuring the Korangi harbour to function smoothly. He said these private illegal jetty operators also deprive the government of taxes.

The fisheries play an important role in the national economy. It provides employment to approximately 300,000 fishermen directly. In addition, another 400,000 people are employed in the ancillary industries. It is also a major source for export earning.

The federal government is responsible for making policies, inter-provincial co-ordination, planning, research, quality control, training, exploratory fishing, stock assessment, fisheries management, fleet improvement, data collection and export.

There are more than 16,000 fishing boats operating in the Sindh zone. However, the storage capacity is only 10,000 tonnes which is not sufficient enough for catering the future requirements.

These fishing boats undertake fishing trips lasting for a few hours for about 25 days depending upon the type of fishing. The total production from inland and marine waters is approximately 0.60 million tonnes.

The fishing activities at the Korangi harbour through the deep sea trawlers were launched initially, however they had come to a standstill in November 1996 as the government banned the deep-sea trawlers for a number of reasons, including the hue and cry raised by the local fishermen. THE NEWS

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