Sustainable Fisheries - Pakistan Water Gateway

field of limnology and biology of fish in
reservoirs needs to be done. Such data
should then be used for more precise planning
of reservoir fishery development.
Aquaculture
Pakistan has a sizeable area of land and water
suitable for the development of aquaculture
along the coastline, in the estuarine areas and
in the flood plains where many species of
shrimp and fish can be cultured. There is also
scope for the establishment of rearing farms for
the commercial production of fish and shrimp in
both fresh and marine waters. This needs to be
complemented by a comprehensive extension
programme with incentives and subsidies for the
promotion of the industry.
Stocking Public Waters/Utilization of
Wetlands
Stocking fish in commonly owned water bodies
in villages and town (village ponds, etc.) can
play a significant role in fish production for the
poor, especially in inland areas. This would considerably
improve the nutritional value of the
diet of poorer sections of society. Poor villages,
particularly in the remote areas, should be given
priority by the government when stocking is
being considered. Subsequent management
should be handed over to a village management
committee. The fish should be harvested at
a particular time of the year followed by immediate
restocking. The product should be sold to
the public at subsidized rates. The government
should fund the project completely in the first
and second years, 50% in the third and fourth
years and upto 25% in the fifth year. Thereafter,
the government should provide only technical
advice. This use will add a new dimension to
community resources generally used for washing
clothes, and for the bathing of both human
beings and cattle. The Punjab government has
started such a pilot project in a village and the
lessons learnt from this can provide guidelines
for the future.
The right approach would be to prepare a
map of stockable waters and overlay this with a
map showing areas of extreme poverty in order
to estimate where the benefits, in terms of nutrition,
will be the most.
Mangroves: Designation of Areas for
Conservation
Although biosphere reserves have been designated
for terrestial forests and plantations, no
such reserves have as yet been created for
mangroves.
Mangrove forests provide a link between
marine and terrestial ecosystems. There is generally
an import of nutrients from the land to
the mangroves, and then an export of nutrients
from the mangroves to the sea. In the mangrove
swamps most primary production is by
the trees.
Coast Conservation Department
A coastal zone management plan should be formulated
through the creation of a Coast Conservation
Department. The following objectives,
with respect to estuaries, lagoons and mangroves
should be kept in mind.
● To safeguard the coast to protect these
ecosystems.
● To enhance fishery production from these
ecosystems.
● To utilize these ecosystems for mineral
extraction in a manner that does not conflict
with the above points.
National Conservation Databank
A national conservation databank project should
be established at the federal level to facilitate
the analyses, interpretation and dissemination of
data on various aspects pertaining to the conservation
of sectors identified by the NCS. This
database should link with an international
database.
In the past, fisheries managers have accorded
the economic and social aspects of their work
a lower priority than biological data collection.
Today, the need is for multi-disciplinary data for
decision-makers.
NCS SECTOR PAPER 25