Monthly allowance summary for affected families okayed, PA told

The Sindh Assembly was informed on Friday that the provincial government had approved a summary for giving a monthly allowance of Rs10,000 each to affected families of fishermen caught by Indian forces.

Fisheries Minister Muhammad Ali Malkani gave information to this effect to lawmakers during the question hour about his department. 

He said the government would soon announce a policy of giving the monthly allowance to the affected families of fishermen languishing in Indian jails.

To a question of a lawmaker from the Pakistan Muslim League- Functional, Nusrat Bano Seher Abbasi, the minister admitted that the number of sharks in the Arabian Sea along Pakistan’s coastline had declined by 81 percent since the year 1999.

The main reason for the decline in the number of sharks was its fishing in the territorial waters of Pakistan, Iran and Oman, he said, adding that marine pollution had also been hampering the breeding of sharks as their pups could not survive in polluted seawater.

Malkani informed the house that there had been no fall in fish farming in Badin, Tando Bago and Talhar areas of Sindh. In Badin, there were 114 fish farms in 2014, 119 in 2015 and 127 in 2016.  In Tando Bago, the number of fish farms in 2014 was 120, 127 in 2015 and 129 in 2016. In Talhar, the numbers of fish farms were 38, 45 and 49 in those three years, respectively.

Answering another question from Abbasi about steps being taken by government to improve the living standard of fishermen, the minister said boats of fishermen did not contain the necessary health-related precautionary measures.

The government, however, had been taking a number of steps to improve the standard of life of fishermen, he said, adding that the steps included ending the lease system in the official limits of seawater for fishing and introducing a licence system for the purpose, instead. 

Model villages for fishermen were being constructed near Manchar Lake, Keenjhar Lake and Zero Point in Badin, and residential colonies for them were also being built at different spots, he said. 

Malkani said fishermen were being provided fishing nets, motorboat engines, storage casings for preserving fish, bicycles, plastic crates and lifejackets. 

He further stated that reverse osmosis water filtration plants and jetties were also being constructed for fishermen’s settlements, and fishermen were being provided the latest technology related to fishing and information regarding quality fish catch to maximise their earnings.