Fishermen fear losing livelihoods — and home

Islands’ development projected to displace 800,000 fishermen

Sindh's fishermen survive on little, but they are happy. They have much other than money to hold on to - their roots, history, culture, islands, the shores that they call home and the sea.

As Shahid Mahmodani voiced these thoughts, fixing a broken fishing net along with his brother and cousins, he was morose.

"The development on the twin islands [of Dingi and Bhandar] will push us to abject hunger and displacement," he said. Displacement will mean a large fishing community being uprooted from what has been their home for decades.

According to Mahmodani, fishermen from Thatta, Sujawal and Badin have been to migrating Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth, in the suburbs of Karachi, expanding these fishermen's settlements over time so that they are now two of the largest ones in Pakistan.

Currently, around 150,000 fishermen live in Ibrahim Hyderi alone, relying solely on the fishing industry to make ends meet.

Mahmodani fears that development on the islands will block their routes to the deep sea and fishing creeks, depriving them of their livelihoods and, eventually, displacing them.

The worry that Mahmodani has been fighting off for weeks has been keeping numerous other fishermen up all night.

"You [the government] would not be developing anything for us but only blocking our way to the sea," said another disgruntled fisherman, Abdullah.

According to him, fishermen are no longer allowed to venture near Port Qasim and fishing spots near Clifton and Karachi Port Trust.

"And when the government occupies our islands, we will be left with only a narrow strip of water to take us into deep sea for fishing," he decried.

According to a survey conducted by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), there were roughly 300 islands between Karachi and Sujawal from 2000 to 2006. PFF president Muhammad Ali Shah believes that all these islands, and not just Dingi and Bhandar, will be "developed" by the government.

"The government does not want just the two islands, but all our fishing grounds and mangroves," he opined.

So, the development on Dingi and Bhandar islands is likely to have a direct impact on approximately 800,000 fishermen, of 2.5 million residing along the Sindh's coastal belt, Shah estimated. Others, he said, will suffer indirect effects.

According to the fishermen of Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth, those displaced from Indus Delta and settled in the suburbs of Karachi, in the face of the Indus River drying up, are already living in abject poverty. Being forced to move again would spell certain doom for them, they worried.

"The fishermen's displacement will be a catastrophe," remarked Shah. "Our culture, history and profession are at risk."

According to him, "Constructing huge buildings and roads will not lead to human development. It is destruction. It will destroy the entire ecosystem in the region."

He said the fishermen of the Indus Delta were prosperous till the 1960s. "They relied on agriculture, livestock and fishing [for survival]," he recalled. "But agriculture and livestock gradually disappeared after the construction of dams. And now, our sole remaining source of earning a living is also under threat."

The sentiment is shared by the rest of the fishing community.

"We are the people who built this place [Karachi]," said a fisherman, Muhammad Ibrahim. "We are being pushed into a corner and where will you [the government] provide us accommodation if we are displaced?" he questioned.

He said fishing was a dying profession since the Indus Delta was drying up and complained that neither the government nor any other organisation had extended support to the fishermen during these challenging times.

Abdullah said that even after working 12 hours a day, they could hardly earn up to Rs15,000 a month.

As a consequence, several young men and women from the community are now looking for other options for earning.

"Many have started working in factories and the community's women have started working as housemaids," explained another fisherman, Abdul Karim. "We are neglected, ignored and helpless," he added. "Just look at our condition. We don't have access to potable water and other basic necessities. This is the ugliest place in the city."

So, when the government develops the islands, "it will be depriving us of whatever few rights we have," remarked Abdullah.

As per World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan regional head in Sindh and Balochistan Dr Tahir Rasheed, developing the islands will also cause significant damage to mangroves.

"At least 99 species of fish breed around these islands and so far, over 50 species of birds have been recorded there. The development would affect all of them," he explained.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2020.