He said the mangroves, which are a breeding ground for fish and shrimps, cannot thrive well in polluted seas water and preserving them will help bring improvement in the depleted resources and it will get space for growth and enhancement of marketable fish stocks. He said that according to the Pakistan Statistical Book for the year 2015's figures on fish production of marine and inland fisheries has been 700,000 tons which included 250 thousand tons from fresh water sources and remaining 450 thousand tons from marine source, in 2011.
"The production trend has been for the year 2014-15 been 765 thousand tons in total while fresh water contributed 285 thousand tons and remaining 480 tons came from marine source," he said, adding that the production has not increased in fresh water as well as marine resources. The trend shows stagnation which needs to be tackled by enhancing the production of fish for the development of the country.
Omar Hayat said Pakistan is blessed with a wealth of fishery resources; however, these resources are still not being utilized according to their potential, which results in the under-developed fishery industry; the main causes are weak institutions at provincial levels as well as federal level, outdated fish seed multiplication facilities, shortage of fish seed of cultural species, lack of basic knowledge of fish farm ie lack of human capacity in public as well as private sector and capital to run new ventures.
Despite sufficient production as well as export potential, the fisheries sub-sector in Pakistan has not been able to attain a satisfactory growth rate. The worldwide shortage of animal protein has resulted in increased attention towards programs of aquatic resources.
The expert said fish is one of the best aquatic animals that can help in supplementing the protein. During the past two decades, most countries (both developed and developing) have made steady progress towards increasing protein production from aquatic resources. This is resulting in an overall increase of harvest from water resources. Pakistan has vast inland water resources.
The general characteristics of inland fisheries are dominated by the Indus River, which flows southwards from the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, entering the Punjab province near Attock, and eventually falling into the Indian Ocean in the Sindh province. The Indus River is joined by four large rivers that flow through most of the Punjab province. An extensive canal system and inter-connecting water ways is a salient feature of this network throughout the inland heartland in Punjab and upper Sindh.
"There is a substantial scope for fish production of high value species from aquaculture in private sector throughout Pakistan," he said, adding that for the mobilization of private sector important concessions, such as access to finance, technical support from Fisheries Departments of respective provinces and Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authorities, Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Food Security and Research, quality seed supplies from public sector hatcheries at nominal rates, tax holiday, and lease of government land for fish farming have to be granted by the government which would invigorate fish culture in private sector to a large extent.
He said in view of the other scenario from which other countries have benefited is marine aquaculture, Pakistanis have to focus only on one thing ie Aquaculture. Mariculture and fresh water Aquaculture of high value fish will provide a quantum leap in increasing our fish production and support our exports of fish and fisheries products.
The fisheries exports of India crossing US$3 billion, Bangladesh: over US$1 billion, Vietnam US$5 billion, Thailand US$10 billion while Iran and Saudi Arabia have also made remarkable headways in shrimp farming. He said these achievements have only been possible due to the adoption of a very strong aquaculture policy by these countries.
Omar Hayat said the opportunities for Pakistan are wide open in the Fresh, Brackish, Marin Fisheries and Aquaculture sub sector of Agriculture. In order to sustain our industry and reducing the pressure on our marine, brackish and fresh water resources, we have to develop the aquaculture sector. He said there is no need to invent the wheel again foreign companies in our region already involved in this business must be given an opportunity to come and develop this sector with us on Joint Venture basis.
He called for enforcement of the writ of government on the coastal belt, investment-friendly land lease policy and support in infrastructure development to jumpstart this sector. He also stressed need for the development of cluster of farms by providing the technical support to the existing and new Aqua culturists as well as entrepreneurs in this sub sector.
He said the value additions activity will pick up, once the raw material availability is guaranteed through aquaculture, the processing industry will confidently invest in value addition equipment to reinforce their processing and thus their profitability.
He said Pakistan has a fish and seafood industry estimate worth $1.2 billion. Exports alone are worth nearly $370 million per annum. More than 0.8 million people rely directly or indirectly on the industry for their livelihood.