KARACHI, Jan 8: The new administrator of the Fishermen Cooperative Society, Tahir Dada, has expressed the hope that the situation in the fish harbour would soon improve as a result of measures being taken by his administration and the European Union would lift the ban on the import of Pakistani seafood.

Mr Dada, who took over the FCS on Dec 5, 2007 and recently held a series of meetings with higher authorities including the caretaker prime minister, admitted the gravity of the situation, saying that rampant corruption, overstaffing and lack of coordination among key stakeholders were the main factors that led to the present appalling conditions.

“The affairs of the fish harbour are not only being looked after by the FCS, but also by the Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KFHA) and the federally-controlled Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) that issues NOCs to the processing units for export purposes,” he said.

“FCS is responsible for regulating the market and the welfare of fishermen through the income it earns from the auction of seafood while the role of the KFHA is confined to the operation of the harbour and its development,” he added. Painting a dismal picture of the plight of fishermen, he deplored that no organization had played its due role for the uplift of the fishing community, which is the backbone of the industry.

He said the issue of loot and plunder was brought to the notice of higher authorities during his meetings with them on fish harbour matters.

Pointing out that rampant corruption was one of the key afflictions of the fisheries sector, the FCS administrator called for a drastic cut in the society’s staff as well as in the KFHA.

According to him, the total number of employees in the FCS was 350 while the number of the KFHA employees was more than 200, which was more than enough to run a society. He also called some of the employees inefficient and corrupt.

Mr Dada also suggested that the role of each organization and stakeholder must be clearly defined and they must work together for the development of the harbour and the welfare of fishermen and must shun their traditional role and pool their resources for the uplift of the fishing community.

“It is also the responsibility of the government to allow a free hand to the FCS to run its affairs and it be given full authority of hiring and firing,” he said.

Regarding the ban on imports of Pakistani seafood by the European Union, the FCS administrator said all-out efforts were being made to meet the EU requirements and hoped that the ban would be lifted soon. However, he remarked that the situation could not improve without the coordination of the key organisations.