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Detailed Ecological Assessment Report 2008 – Keenjhar Lake
of this lake as a tourist spot is another source of pollution for this lake.
More than 15000 people of Karachi visit this lake weekly. These tourists
not only throw garbage into Keenjhar but also bring communicable human
diseases to the local people and aquatic system by bathing/swimming in
the lake.
• Multiple ownership of the Lake: At present five Government
Departments are performing different functions at the lake which are
Sindh tourism departments, Irrigation department, Wildlife department
Fisheries department and the local government. The tourism department
promotes the tourism activities, irrigation department looks after the
embankments, link canal, and water quantity in the lake. The wildlife
department takes care of the wildlife and fisheries department takes care
of the fishing activities. The local government influences the auction of
fishing rights in the lake. All these departments are working independently
without consulting to each other and without considering the interests of
the other departments. Activity of one department is often the problem for
the other as tourism can be problem for wildlife species and fishing
activities. It is important to reconsider this arrangement and a Keenjhar
lake development authority be established so that all the activities could
be performed in a coherent manner.
• Construction of Link Canal: Historically, the Keenjhar Lake was
receiving water from the main river Indus by the K B feeder canal. It was
bringing turbid water of the Indus to the lake. To avoid this turbidity to be
mixed in the lake, a link canal was constructed to divert the water directly
to the canal feeding Karachi bypassing the Keenjhar Lake during
monsoon months. The commercial fishes in the main river Indus in
monsoon season. The K. B. canal was a seed bank for the commercial
fishes in the Keenjhar Lake. It was bringing millions of fingerlings and
fries of the fish that was breeding in the main river Indus and each year
the lake was recruited by the new stocks of fish seed and the depletion of
fish stocks due to fishing activities in the lake was compensated each
year. By construction of Link canal the Keenjhar Lake is not stocked by
this natural fish seed and the fish production in the lake is severely
affected.
• Over fishing due to auction system/license system: A major cause of
decrease in the inland fisheries is the auction system under which Govt.
has auctioned the fishing rights of the lake to the local people or the
influential contractors. In Keenjhar lake area there is license system. Both
these systems are highly controversial. The contractors as well as people
having License, both take it for granted to get as much catch as possible
to have maximum profit. They do not bother about any rule or regulation.
Any means of fishing, whether legal or illegal, is being adapted and any
size of fish is being caught. The Keenjhar Lake is the worse example of
overexploitation of fisheries resource in the country. If this situation
continuous, there will be no fish in the years to come and more and more
fishermen will be left jobless.
• Conflicts with Fishermen community and Fisheries Department:
There is a conflict between local fishermen and fisheries department
regarding the auction system or the license system. Consequently
fisheries department is not putting required quantity of fish seed in the
WWF Pakistan – Indus for All Programme Page 67 of 165