KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Jam Khan Shoro has said the federal government collects all the taxes on various exportable products, including aquatic products being exported from Sindh, but it does not allocate funds for development of fisheries sector.

Due to lack of funds, the fisheries sector is yielding poor performance. He urged the federal government to focus on the high potential sector.

Speaking to members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Monday, he said that despite a massive coastal belt of 1,000kms, almost equivalent to the coastal belt of Thailand and Vietnam, Pakistan earns just $300-400 million from fishery exp­orts while the two Far-Eastern countries earn billions of dollars every year through this important sector.

According to KCCI’s press release, the minister said numerous raids were conducted and factories were sealed for using fish seed for production of poultry feed. However, factory owners acquired stay orders from the court. As a result, the ministry cannot take action against those destroying the fish seed and under-sized fish by encouraging fishermen to use zero-sized prohibited nets.

Jam Khan sought KCCI’s help in dealing with those industrialists whose factories were producing poultry feeds from fish seeds which was being done only in Sindh and not being practiced in any other part of the world, not even in Balochistan.

On livestock sector, the minister said the area of Tharparkar was blessed with 6.5 million livestock, including cattle and goats, but unfortunately thousands of liters of organic milk was being wasted due to lack of proper processing and transportation facility.

He invited businessmen to invest in Tharparkar by setting up processing plants for organic milk and make arrangements for its transportation which would surely be a lucrative business.

KCCI President Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra expressed concern over dismal performance of fisheries sector whose exports were around $337 million as compared to the available potential of more than $1 billion.

Improper handling of caught fish and shrimps on board was a cause of resultant lack in quality and wastage.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2015

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