Karachi
At least 300 small fishing boatsódaily goersóleft Karachi Fish Harbour and local jetties of Karachi islands on Sunday morning, as the new fishing season was formally launched at a simple ceremony at the harbour. Other 100 larger boats are ready to leave their jetties for the open seas on Monday morning. These big vessels stay at sea for at least one week or more on a single trip. The authorities have issued port clearances (PCs) to all the boats to resume their livelihood activities, after the one-month (July) ban on fishing.
However, it was unusual that this time despite an earlier announcement the concerned bodies dealing with boats, fishermen, market and traders could not organise a function to officially inaugurate the season with issuance of PCs publicly through the fisheries minister.
Fishermen consider the start of new season a test case for local sea lords, as the minister has already announced implementation of the ban on the use of illegal nets in creeks and for this he has formed different committees, involving law enforcement agencies to enforce the ban. Fishermen community representatives have expressed concern over vesting powers in certain government law enforcement agencies for implementing the law. However, the controversy prevails over the issue, because as usual, the government has taken decision without taking local community representatives into confidence.
Meanwhile, seafood exporters and traders have expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation on the premises of the harbour and warned not to resume their business in the new season. Traders complain that they are feeling insecure while coming to their offices and seafood processing plants, as robbers are on rampage there. In this regard, the Fisheries Minister, Zahid Bhurgari, held meetings with seafood exporters, traders and officials concerned for two consecutive days to discuss the issue and find a better solution. He assured the people that the provincial government and the Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KFHA) would take all possible measures to enhance the security at the Harbour.
The KFHA has 111 security staff and FCS has 100 watchmen functioning for the last 15ó20 years but their performance has brought up many questions after increasing the incidents of robberies.
The authorities said if the outsiders visiting harbour were issued gate passes, they may check them while leaving the area and control the situation. Installation of surveillance cameras at the main points is another issue as the authorities realise that they cannot identify the people effectively.
Meanwhile, the government departments functioning at the Karachi Fish Harbour have requested the police to deploy their force to patrol the area to avert any robbery.
The officials said it was quite difficult to control the situation because at least 50,000 people, including officials, seafood units’ staff, market fishmongers and boat crews visit the harbour daily. More than 80 per cent workforce is illiterate and controlling them is difficult.