Faiza Tehseen

A properly defined regulatory mechanism and registration of all fisheries-related businesses is important to open new avenues of revenue and employment opportunities in Pakistan. The export of processed and non-processed quality fisheries products is essential to fetch a handsome foreign exchange in the country. To reap all this crop, a well-framed operational agenda must be followed.

Discussing the importance of registration of all types of fisheries business with WealthPK, the Director General of the Department of Fisheries, Punjab (DFP) Dr. Sikandar Hayat said, “The first and foremost job to make the aqua-culture system appropriate is the regulatory mechanism and the registration of all related fisheries businesses at the national scale. To promote this industry at the government level, availability of complete data concerning them is very important. It will help know the interest of investors, experts, and businessmen in which area of this business they are interested, keep experts or need more awareness and training, etc.

In this way, it will be easy for the government to plan a proper roadmap for both local and international suppliers, processors, and sellers. This strategic framework or the regulatory mechanism is the first and foremost step toward the development of this industry. In this concern, DFP has outlined its initiative and it is officially submitted for further proceedings and amendments as well. The most focused point in the said document is to make the registration mandatory for all small and large scale or individually handled businesses related to fisheries.

DFP, in this context, has initiated to bring radical changes, i.e., registration must be mandatory for the existing and new setups. The registration will help to generate the multi-approached data, i.e., the exact number of all existing and newly established large and small aquatic businesses, producers, Hatchery managers, and processors, the exact number of the workforce involved, chances for new employment, the number of skilled/ non-skilled, direct and indirect manpower, and co-related industries, number of hatcheries, productive farms/ponds/ natural places, storage places and types, processing units, the quantity of all type of production and their type, etc.

All the said information is also important to improve quality, capacity building, and bringing more people toward this profitable industry through awareness campaigns. DFP not only upgraded its labs according to internationally competent quality standards. These labs will not only be kept upgraded but the establishment of new ones and attracting private investors is also a part of the plan.”

The global fish and seafood market is expected to grow worth US$217,878.11 million by the year 2028 at the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.03% from worth US$ 171,864.14 million in 2022 (selected as the base year for analysis). It is important for Pakistan to improve its fish and seafood market according to modern trends. It is vital to boost this industry which will make millions of people related to this business earn a sustainable livelihood.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk