Fisherfolk pins hope on floods to catch windfalls

HYDERABAD: The dreaded floods that spook villagers living near water channels bode well for the fisherfolk who hope that the fresh flows will bring bonanza of new catches in the Lake Manchar.
Community leader Mustafa Meerani said the freshwater lake, located west of the Indus River in Jamshoro district, has already started receiving fish seed with fresh water coming through main nara valley drain and local natural rivers flowing from the Khirthar mountainous range. Its water level has improved up to 11.5 feet.
It spreads over an area of 233 square kilometres with a capacity of holding 18ft water. Local fishermen said a number of new species – some of them weighing around eight kilograms – were introduced to the Lake Manchar after the 2010 floods.
“Flood waters always bring in new variety of fish,” said Meerani. “The overflow may, however, affect 250 villages with around 0.4 million population near the lake as was happened in 2010 floods.”
However, he said fishermen are hopeful that they will see more fish, and they will move back to the lake once the water pressure goes down.
“The fishermen were concerned about the depleting fish stocks in the lake,” he added. “Since it is non-barrage area farmers also depend on the lake water for irrigating their crops. Now, both fishermen and local growers can be benefited from fresh water flows.”
Presently, there are around 20,000 fishermen dependent on the lake but due to growing pollution and depleting fish species many of them have migrated to the coastal areas of Balochistan and Karachi to survive in the face of poverty.
Community activists said the fishermen usually move to the coastal belt to earn livelihood from September to March. They may stay here this year as they may get massive catches after few days.
The activists said the fish stocks started diminishing back in 1974 when the government decided to turn the lake into a reservoir with a level of at least 12ft.
This was to feed the agriculture land in non-barrage areas, there. After receiving fresh water, the lake may also benefit farmers to save their crops like cotton and paddy in this season.