Islands development: ‘New cities will impoverish 3m fishermen’

The construction of cities on Dingi and Bhandar islands will deprive around three million fishermen, who depend on marine fishing for sustenance, of their livelihoods in Sindh and Balochistan, said Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) chairperson Muhammad Ali Shah on Saturday.

He was speaking in relevance to World Fisheries Day, falling on November 21, and announced the PFF would be conducting activities from November 16 to November 21 in connection with the day, focusing on the theme of 'Fisher Folk's Sovereignty on Marine Islands', across Sindh.

Speaking of the agenda for the week-long activities, he said that starting on Tuesday, the PFF would hold corner meetings and organise events in all districts of Sindh until November 20, while rallies would be taken out across all districts on November 19 and the main rally would be taken out in Karachi, from Regal Chowk to Karachi Press Club, on November 21.

Shah said fishing communities across the world celebrated World Fisheries Day every year on November 21, and PFF had also been doing so since its inception in 1998. And this year, it will be aimed at highlighting the sovereignty of fisherfolk on all marine islands and safeguarding their rights, he added.

According to Shah, the government's plan of constructing cities on Dingi and Bhandar islands would block the path to fishing sites, depriving around three million fishermen - who depend on marine fishing, mostly in creeks, for sustenance - of their livelihoods in Sindh and Balochistan.

He further pointed out that the federal government had constituted the Pakistan Islands Development Authority (PIDA) to carry out construction on the twin islands of Dingi and Bhandar without consulting the Sindh government, even when the isles were located in the territorial jurisdiction of the province.

"The PFF is protesting the decision… as the [islands] serve as fishing spots and [are home to] mangrove forests," he said. "The federal government's move is not just against the Constitution of Pakistan, but also [violates] international conventions and agreements that provide social, economic and cultural sovereignty to indigenous people," he went on.

Shah further stated that Pakistan's coastal belt extended over 1,050 kilometres, with 300 islands located just along the Sindh's coast.

"The federal government will take over all of them," he alleged, adding that the islands, including Dingi and Bhandar, were home to mangrove forests over thousands of hectares of land. "[These mangrove forests] are nurseries of fish and shrimps while the creeks between Karachi and Thatta [serve as] fishing sites," said Shah.

Citing a United Nations study, he said more than two-thirds of the world's fisheries had been overfished or fully harvested and more than one-third were in a state of decline because of factors such as the loss of essential fish habitats, pollution and global warming.

As a result, he explained, "fishermen are facing serious problems."

"Ghastly increasing marine pollution, unconventional and untraditional fishing practices, including the use of destructive nets and deep-sea trawlers, have not just [resulted in] over-fishing and ruined the ecosystem, but have also drastically affecting livelihood of fishermen," elaborated Shah. Besides, overfishing and mechanisation has also resulted in a crisis - fish stocks are being depleted due to factory ships, bottom trawling, and other means of unsustainable fishing methods, he said. "Unless we address these issues collectively, the crisis will [continue to] deepen."

He said World Fisheries Day helped in highlighting these problems, finding solutions for them and, in the long term, identifying sustainable means of maintaining fish stocks.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2020.