Pakistani marine resources being exploited by Indian fishermen, claims MSA

Karachi

Every month around 600 Indian vessels and fishing boats, most of them equipped with Global Positioning Systems (GPS), intentionally enter the Pakistani seas for illegal fishing, posing a major threat to our marine resources, said Commodore Ghazi Salahuddin of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (MSA) on Wednesday.

He asserted that illegal and unreported fishing activities by vessels and boats from neighbouring countries was one of the major threats to the country’s marine resources.

Commodore Salahuddin was delivering a presentation on illegal fishing in Pakistani waters on the second day of a consultative workshop on illegal wildlife trade.

He said Indian fishermen travelled up to 135 nautical miles from their coasts and entered the Pakistani waters. “At times the fishermen were caught more than 100 nautical miles deep in Pakistani waters,” he said, “This shows their  which shows that their real intent of exploring Pakistani marine resources and poaching.

The four-day consultative and capacity building workshop on combating illegal wildlife trade has been organized by WWF-Pakistan in collaboration with USAID. It is being attended and addressed by wildlife officials from all four provinces, law-enforcement officials from different agencies and officials of civilian armed forces, besides experts and environmentalists from different organisations working in the field of conservation and wildlife protection in the country.

The consultative workshop is part of a project of the USAID for combating illegal wildlife trade by establishing a national monitoring network that benefits local communities and environment, supported by the agency’s small grants and ambassador’s fund programme.

The MSA official said Indian fishermen also used banned fishing nets, resulting in depletion of young fish resource in Pakistani waters.  

Muhammad Moazzam Khan, technical adviser at WWF-Pakistan shed light on various aspects of illegal and unreported fishing in Balochistan and urged for effective implementation of regulation of CITES treaty and Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), of which Pakistan is a signatory.

He appreciated the fact that the workshop included representation of all major stakeholders that have a critical role in the battle against illegal wildlife trade, and is an important milestone to eliminate wildlife crime from the country.

Khan emphasised that such an event is an excellent opportunity to further strengthen the knowledge and skills of law-enforcement agencies and to develop partnerships amongst them to effectively curb wildlife crimes.

The agenda of consultation workshop was focused on identifying gaps in existing laws that deal with wildlife crimes in the country, enhancement of inter-departmental coordination and confiscated wildlife welfare aspects. The recommendations of the workshop would be compiled in the form of an action-plan.

Participants included Saeed Akhtar Baloch, Chief Conservator Wildlife Sindh; Shareef-ud-Din Baloch, Conservator Wildlife and National Parks Balochistan Wildlife and Forest Department; Umeed Khalid, Conservator Wildlife, Ministry of Climate Change; Sammar Hussain Khan, Assistant Secretary Wildlife, Ministry of Climate Change; and senior officials from customs and marine fisheries departments, and security agencies.

Experts also highlighted that the Sindh Wildlife Protection Act did not provide protection to the marine cetaceans and this needed to be rectified on priority basis. While sharing recommendations related to the rescued wildlife welfare aspects, it was pointed out that lack of capacity and wildlife rehabilitation facilities and the unclear role and responsibilities in the laws which deal with handling the confiscated wildlife are the key issues which required immediate attention.

They also emphasised that the draft regulations to implement Pakistan Trade Control of Wild Fauna and Flora Act 2012 at provincial level should be finalised and implemented on immediate basis. They also suggested to setup wildlife information desks at potential exit and entry points.