KARACHI, Dec 4: The former chairman of the Sindh Trawlers’ Owners Association (STOFA), Tahir Mazhar Dada, has taken over the charge as the administrator of the Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS) here on Tuesday.

The position had been lying vacant since Nov 17 after the resignation of the former adviser to the former chief minister on fisheries and livestock, Faqir Jadam Mangrio.

The new FCS chief told APP that removal of a ban on the export of Pakistan’s seafood imposed by the European Union (EU) was his first priority.

He was of the view that a lack of coordination between the stakeholders had resulted in the imposition of a ban on our seafood exports. “I will convene a joint meeting of all the stakeholders, including Marine Fisheries Department (MFD), Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA), boat owners and processors to discuss the ongoing situation and will try to evolve an effective strategy to do away with this ban”, he said.

To a question, he said that the FCS would soon start awarding contracts to boat modifiers on the basis of approved maps. We would award contracts for the modification of 50 boats to each modifier, he added.

He also expressed his resolve to serve one million poor fishermen directly or indirectly related to the fisheries sector and to improve their living standards.

Commenting on the current situation of the FCS, he said that everything was messed up.

End to ‘interference’ urged

The Pakistan Mahigir Tehrik (PMT) has urged the Sindh government to stop its interference in the internal matters of the Fishermen Cooperative Society, adds our staff reporter.

Expressing concern over the ongoing crisis in the fisheries sector, the PMT chairperson, Zubeda Birwani, said that ever since the Sindh government had started “imposing political leadership rather than public servants on the FCS board,” the situation was aggravating day by day. She urged the provincial government to review its policy of nominating politically-oriented directors, saying that this policy had pushed the fisheries sector to the brink of collapse.

The PMT chief held what she called politically-nominated government directors responsible for the present mess in the fisheries sector “by exploiting the revenue of the FCS for promoting personal interest.”

She said that the performance of the FCS, since its inception in 1945 till the early 90s, remained satisfactory as during that period the 15-member board of directors of the society comprised eight government nominated directors and seven elected by the fishing community according to the FCS bylaws.

Ms Birwani argued that since most of the government nominated directors were high-ranking public servants, the FCS affairs ran smoothly and both the government and the elected directors tried to solve the problems being faced by the fishermen at the board meetings with mutual consent.

She was of the view that the society started facing serious financial and administrative problems soon after the induction of political figures and the situation took an ugly turn when the provincial government started nominating its director from the representatives of the ruling parties.

She accused the politically-nominated government directors of indulging in corruption and spending funds recovered by the society through commission on fish sale on their personal luxuries instead of welfare of the fisherfolk.

Moreover, this policy had completely ruined the fisheries sector as there had been a drastic decline in the revenue of the society because of frivolous means adopted in the official sale of fish catch in the market alleging that fake sale slips showing less fish catch were being issued to the middlemen.

Due to the indifferent attitude of the Karachi Fish Harbour Authority, the standard of hygiene had fallen in the fish harbour and the EU countries had imposed a ban on the import of Pakistan’s seafood.

She maintained that these problems could only be resolved by making the FCS board functional and the government must stop its interference in the affairs of the society by revising its nomination policy of inducting political figures in the FCS.