UNO’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has issued a report which said that though Pakistan’s marine fisheries resources were very productive, but they were not scientifically managed and over-exploited.
A meeting for the Fisheries Resource Appraisal in Pakistan Project (FRAP) was held here at FAO’ Office on Monday, which was chaired by Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Hasil Khan Bazinjo.
A copy of the FRAP final report on the status of marine fishery resources was presented in the meeting, which emphasised that regulation of fishing effort was essential, and for this purpose increase in fishing needed to be curtailed. The efforts should be made in reductions of fishing. It was estimated that a reduction of fishing effort by 50pc would result in doubling of the economic value of the fisheries resource.
Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister Bazinjo, appreciating the efforts of FAO in compilation of the report, said that fishermen needed to be involved in the efforts aimed at improving the situation of marine fisheries resources in Pakistan
FAO Representative in Pakistan Patrick T Evans gave overview of the main features of the project. He said the current report encompassed data from previous surveys in the 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s well as in-depth surveys conducted from 2009 through 2015; “The clear trend for all commercial species is that they are being seriously overfished and the long term viability of the resource is in jeopardy”.
Participants at the meeting represented various federal and provincial government fisheries and marine life institutes and departments.
The FRAP project was initiated in 2008 through a Unilateral Trust Fund project of FAO of the UN and the Government of Pakistan through the then Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock.
The main components included a programme of fisheries-independent data collection through fisheries surveys. Several activities to address the size of the fishing fleet, the amount of fishing effort exerted, and the catches landed from it.
The components were building blocks to provide the information for a comprehensive scientific report on the status and prospects of Pakistan’s mare fisheries resources and management advice to re-build the countries’ fisheries to support sustainable and economically productive communities and industries.
