$1b worth fish on the table

The Sindh government aims to enhance the seafood exports from the current $300 million to $1 billion by adopting new technologies to promote aquaculture, developing infrastructure and enhancing capacity building of fishermen in the province.
“At present Pakistan’s seafood exports stand at just $300 million and major share in exports is contributed by Sindh province,” Director of Fisheries (Hatcheries & Trainings) at Department of Fisheries, Khawar Pervez Awan told reporters during their visit to coastal areas of the province.
He said that the country’s total fish production stands at 400,000 metric tons per annum out of which 282,000 metric tons is produced by Sindh and remaining by other provinces. He was of the view that fish production in the country has remained stagnant which needs attention to propel it and earn foreign exchange.
He said that among the all seafood exports, the major share of 60% is contributed by shrimps.
Mr.Awan said that value addition could also help enhance the cost of the seafood adding that several countries were importing fish from Pakistan and exporting to other countries by using their own labels and trade mark.
He added that despite the ban by European Union on the exports of Pakistani fish, the exports did not decrease as the fish exports were diverted to other interested countries.
Meanwhile, the exports of fish and fish preparations during the first five months of the current fiscal year witnessed slight increase of 0.57 percent.
Seafood exports during July-November (2012-13) stood at $ 126.294 million against the exports of $125.683 million during the same period of last year.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been financing Sindh Coastal Community Development Project and development of fisheries is a sub-component of that project.
The project is aimed at promoting fish raising and growing culture instead of just catching.
Under the project, 30 fish ponds are to be constructed in Thatta besides installing 100 rafts for Oyster rearing and rehabilitation of Fish Hatchery in Badin district to produce quality seed.
The fisheries development program is the part of Asia Development Bank’s (ADB) funded project which has been launched to uplift the poor of the coastal areas. The ADB has been providing funds for the Sindh Coastal Community Development Project (SCCDP) to diversify household income generation options and access to service.
Besides, the purpose of the ADB-Funded project is to improve costal zone management by stabilizing environmental degradation, protecting coastal areas from accelerated coastal erosion.