Ahmed Khan Malik

Sindh fisheries sector is all set to register enhanced productivity as provincial government has chalked out a strategy to increase the aquaculture growth.

The government's plan is to upgrade the aquaculture facilities as well as extend the fiscal incentives to the sector as the high cost of business has been making the operations of the sector difficult, Syed Mustafa Shah, Director Fisheries Sindh told WealthPK. He said Sindh is the home of Pakistan's fisheries sector, with marine capture fisheries, inland capture fisheries, and brackish and freshwater aquaculture. He noted that Pakistan's fisheries sector is estimated to produce over $650 million worth of fish annually. Of this, Sindh produces around two thirds: an aquaculture and inland capture component worth around $130 million, and an annual marine catch worth around $280 million.

He added that Sindh fisheries directly employ an estimated 137,000 people in the marine sector, and 29,000 people in the aquaculture and inland capture sectors, a majority of the total reported employment by this sector across Pakistan is over 390,000 direct jobs. Shah noted that Sindh is also home to important fisheries-supporting ecosystems, including the Indus River Delta, the largest dryland mangrove forest in the world, and numerous inland waterbodies. The marine fisheries sector, which is centered in Sindh province, is in decline due to overfishing. He said that fisheries' production is flat or declining, while fishing boat numbers are increasing. The majority of Pakistan's commercial fish stocks are overfished.

Nine of the fourteen major species groups are already depleted, and only two species groups show any indication that fishing mortality is at or below the limit required to maximize yields. He said that the large shrimp fishery, worth approximately $48 million annually has an estimated 40 percent chance of collapse in the next 20 years.  Furthermore, the marine capture sector is not as profitable as it should be due to high costs.  He Sindh's aquaculture sector is growing slowly, due to constraints on private-sector investment, despite global trade opportunities and favorable agro-climatic conditions.  While the province has extensive resources of fresh and brackish water, aquaculture in Sindh is limited.

The sector is dominated by low value, low productivity carp production. Marine and coastal aquaculture, such as shrimp farming, are almost non-existent. Globally, aquaculture is one of the fastest growing food sectors, on the back of a global fish products demand gap growing at over 9 percent per year. Slow growth is a product of private sector uncertainty – due to a lack of a sector strategy, spatial planning, and biosecurity – and value-chain constraints. He said Sindh's fishing communities are poor and vulnerable, with low incomes and poor nutrition.

In addition to declining marine fish stocks, inland capture fisheries are also in decline due to ecological degradation, overfishing, and climate change. Participation in fisheries resource management at the community level is low. More than 60 percent of fishing households in communities in the Indus Ecoregion are living below the poverty line.  He stressed that improving nutrition in Sindh’s rural communities and boosting fisheries production could increase both incomes and fish consumption, contributing to poverty alleviation and better living standards.

Credit: INP-WealthPk