KARACHI, Aug 16: Under a boat modification plan, chalked out in line with the standards laid down by the European Union for the lifting of its ban on seafood imports from Pakistan, the Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) has modified 22 boats and the modification of another four is near completion.

The KFHA plan envisages modification of 200 boats before inviting an EU inspection team to examine the standards maintained at the harbour to certify that the Pakistani seafood products were fit for export to EU member countries.

Sindh Minister for Fisheries Zahid Ali Bhurgari inaugurated one of the modified boats “Al-Zarr” at the Karachi fish harbour on Saturday.

Speaking at a ceremony held on the occasion, the minister said that the KFHA had publicly auctioned the rights of entry fee collection for a period of one year and the bidder offering Rs3.305 million was awarded the contract. He said a contract for operating slipway was awarded to another party who offered the highest bid of Rs0.350 million.

The minister also performed a draw to select winners of the KFHA Haj scheme from among its employees. The minister assured KFHA employees of maximum possible facilities to be extended to them in order to ensure a better quality of life for their efforts towards enhancing the KFHA earnings.

The federal government had set the deadline of August for the modification of 50 of the 200 fishing boats under the boat modification plan as the EU inspection team was due to visit the harbour to examine the hygiene standards maintained by the KFHA.

Sources in the fisheries sector point out that Pakistan’s seafood export last year touched the all time high mark of $200 million despite the fact that the EU member countries did not import the products in line with the ban, in place for more than a year. However, the government decided to accelerate the pace of work on meeting the EU standards in order to give a further boost to the seafood exports.

The boat modification plan was introduced by Commodore Tayyab Naqvi, former chairman of the KFHA and the Fishermen Co-operative Society (FCS), in the year 2000.—Staff Reporter