KARACHI, Sept 17: The Sindh Fisheries Ministry has asked the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) to carry out dredging of Karachi Fish Harbour to deepen its draft from 2.7 metres to four metres, which is required to avoid grounding of boats.

Secretary Livestock and Fisheries Shoaib Siddiqui told Dawn on Wednesday that the KFH was being upgraded in line with the European Union requirements. “The EU has agreed to lift ban on fish exports from Pakistan after the hygienic changes are made in the harbour and fishing boats.”

He said that the KPT assistance had been sought for carrying out the dredging of the KFH since the ministry had neither funds nor expertise for this task.

KFH acting managing director Waheed Ahmed told Dawn that the KPT authorities said that they did not have small dredgers needed for carrying out dredging of the harbour. However, they assured us that it could make some arrangements as Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KS&EW) had also requested for dredging, he added.

Mr Waheed said the harbour was dredged in 1996 at the time of its construction and since then no dredging had been carried out.

He said that the harbour draft had reduced to 2.7 metres which could cause grounding of boats with heavy fish-load.

There are about 1,800 fishing boats registered with the KFH while the number of boats in action is about 1,000.

The KFH has also awarded a contract for maintaining hygienic conditions at the harbour for which it is spending over Rs0.3 million a month. It has also given equipment including plastic holds and crates to small 160 boats to handle fish.

The fisheries department has initiated project to modernise 200 large fishing boats at the cost of Rs582 million to meet EU standards.

Meanwhile, Fisheries Development Commissioner Mohammad Hayat told Dawn from Islamabad that the federal government had assigned the Sindh government the task to meet EU standards on fishing. “The major obstacle in removing the EU ban is the unhygienic conditions of fishing boats.”

He said that the Minfal had designed four model boats in line with the EU standards at the cost of Rs5 million. The boats built at the Karachi Shipyard had been handed over to the Sindh government to modify about 200 fishing boats on the same pattern.

He said that the main feature of the model boats was non-corrosive coating, which prevents contamination of the fish catch.