Illegal fishing in Rawal Lake: Fisheries department wants boats removed

Official says police not cooperating with department to catch, register cases against culprits

ISLAMABAD: The Fisheries Department of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) has demanded the removal of boats from Rawal Lake, which are being used for illegal fishing.

Fisheries Deputy Director Sadiq Buzdar said that of the 150 boats in the lake, many were being used for illegal fishing at night.

He said that the boats were also causing environmental pollution.

Buzdar said that despite a ban being imposed on boating in the lake, no steps had been taken to implement the ban and remove the boats.

The official said that the police were not cooperating with the fisheries department by showing reluctance to register an FIR against the people involved in illegal fishing.

“They also misbehave with the fisheries staff when they are barred from fishing,” he said.

The official said that the population around the lake had also increased and more and more boats were being launched in the lake.

He said that if illegal fishing was stopped, the department could earn up to Rs100 million per year in licence fee.

Buzdar said that despite the paucity of staff and the required equipment, his department confiscated 1,800 nets used in illegal fishing in the last one year.

He said that the department had earned over Rs800,000 in licence fee since May.

“Very often the fisheries department is blamed for failure to control illegal fishing but nobody takes notice of its financial constraints and the shortage of staff and the requisite equipment,” the official said.

Answering a question, he said that the two boats of the department purchased in 1980 were in poor condition and only Rs200,000 per annum were given for purchase of fuel.

The official said that he had only eight watchmen at his disposal who had to work for extended hours to guard the lake.

The official said that there was no police check post near the lake and whenever illegal hunters were caught, they escape the scene before the police arrived.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2016.