CHAKWAL: According to dietary regulations, the average person needs to consume 30 grams of protein every day. However, in Pakistan, the average person takes in 17 grams of protein per day.

Experts attending a seminar titled ‘Management of Fish Farming in Small Dams’, held in Kallar Kahar on Wednesday, said protein deficiency could be overcome if the country’s resources were properly utilised.

Addressing the seminar, Director General Fisheries Punjab Dr Mohammad Ayub said that with the country set to become the fourth most populated country by 2050, it was all the more important to make use of the resources we have.

“Pakistan has eight million hectares of inland fisheries, of which three million hectares are in Punjab. What we need to do now is to make use of these fisheries,” he said.

Dr Ayub talked about the Potohar region and said that the area had 55 small dams and 900 mini dams.

“The small dams are being used as fish farms, but of the 900 mini dams, only about 500 are being utilised as farms. The water reservoirs of the Potohar region offers great opportunities for fish farming,” he said.

He added that his department, in collaboration with other institutes, was trying its best to promote fish farming not only in Punjab, but across the country.

“We have launched a project worth Rs170 million, in which a hatchery will be built at Kallar Kahar, which is located at the centre of the Potohar region, and it will provide fish seed to the farmers in the area,” the DG Fisheries Punjab said.

Director Fisheries Mohammad Ismail said Chakwal district had the most dams in Potohar region, boasting 21 of the 55 small dams in the area. However, he said, there is no fish seed production in the district.

By establishing a hatchery in Chakwal, he said, fish farming in the area will increase.

Prof Dr Nusrat Jahan, chairperson Department of Zoology at Government College University Lahore, said that fish supplies in Pakistan are short and that we need to encourage fish farming.

She, along with academics from other universities, pledged to promote aquaculture in Punjab.

Director Fisheries, Gilgit-Baltistan, Ghulam Mohyuddin lamented that his province did not have the facilities to develop aquaculture, despite the province being blessed with enormous water resources.

He thanked the Punjab Fisheries Department for extending its support in developing fish farming in his province.

Before the seminar, officials and academics released 15,000 fish seed of different species in the Kallar Kahar Lake.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2015