KARACHI, Jan 26: The seafood exporters have decided to go on strike on February 4 to protest against the attitude of the administration of the Marine Fisheries Department (MFD).The Pakistan Seafood Industries Association (PSIA) sent a letter signed by 65 exporters to the Minfal secretary last month seeking removal of the director general MFD and demanding appointment of a technically sound person on the post. The Minfal has failed to respond so far.

The date for strike has been announced 10 days in advance to ensure that fishermen do not have unnecessary problems and they could also plan fishing trips accordingly, media coordinator PSIA Akhlaq Hussain Abidi.

PSIA and MFD had been at odds for the last few months but the situation became tense when a deputy director of the MFD publicly abused an exporter recently. The concerned exporter had reported some mishandling by an inspector to the MFD.

Later, the PSIA members met director general MFD to complain about the intolerable behavior of the official but the DG ignored the complaint. He declined the request to take action against the deputy director.

The exporters then threatened to suspend purchase of fish and fishery products from the market from January 24, 2008 unless an official of the department (MFD) offer apology for the insulting behaviour with the exporters.

The January 24 boycott of purchase of raw material was, however, postponed till February 2 after a meeting with the Administrator of Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) Tahir Mazhar Dada.

Hanif Khan, chairman PSIA said after losing all hopes exporters had no option but to go for a strike. Depending on the season, the current landing of fish and other products in the winter season has been low hovering between 50,000-100,000 kg per day whose worth comes to Rs1 million to 2 million. Export value of these goods is higher by 25 per cent than the local landing price.

Fish processors pay taxes to the government and earn foreign exchange under extreme business conditions so they could not expect such an indifferent attitude from the federal government office, he said.

Pakistan has already lost the European markets from April 12, 2007 because of a ban imposed by the EU after finding various deficiencies at the harbour, auction hall and processing plants.

Exporters had to divert their EU destined shipments to the Middle East, Thailand and China from where they were fetching 30-40 per cent lower prices. Even exporters had made shipments by air to the Middle East and other countries thus bearing the cost of freight.

The exporters were shipping larger quantities than the EU markets but were not getting the same price.

The average unit price during July-November 2007 remained at $1.25 per kg as compared with $1.45-1.50 per kg in the same period last year. In the last five months of the current fiscal year, fish exports stood at $71 million as compared with $85 million in the same period of 2006.

He said from February to May the AUP is likely to come down to $1 dollar per kg.

Exporters had pinned hopes for increasing foreign exchange earnings to $300 million in the current fiscal year but the ban imposed by the EU would result in earnings worth only $130-140 million this fiscal. The country fetched $184 million from exports, including to Europe in 2006-2007.