According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Pakistan, nearly 400 million gallons per day of untreated waste from Karachi goes into the sea, making a fisherman’s job an extremely dirty one. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Nov 4 2014 (IPS)

If you want to know what ‘sea traffic’ looks like, just go down to the Karachi Harbour. Built in 1959, the dockyard houses close to 2,000 big and small boats anchored in the grey sludge at the edge of Pakistan’s southern port city, which opens into the Arabian Sea.

Life on the jetty, an all-male domain, is anything but dull. The air is thick with the smell of fish. With anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 men working here on a given day, mornings are crowded and noisy with vendors auctioning and buyers inspecting the catch.

Loading and unloading of goods continues uninterrupted well into the afternoon; boats are being geared up for the voyage – rations are inspected, fuel, water and ice are stocked, last minute checks of the nets, the ropes and the engines are underway.

Fishermen operating off the Karachi Harbour in southern Pakistan can earn up to 15,000 rupees (about 145 dollars) per month, but their income is dependent on their catch. As a result, many fisher families live in poverty. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

At one end of the harbour, mammoth-sized wooden arks lie in various stages of completion. Close by, fishing nets are being newly woven or repaired. A medium-sized boat (45 to 55 feet in length) carries anywhere from 20 to 25 fisherman; they go deep into the sea for a maximum of a month.

The income fluctuates – if the catch is good each fisherman can earn as much as 15,000 rupees (about 145 dollars) that month, but there is no fixed salary. These men only get a percentage based on their haul. There is a ban imposed by the government during the months of June and July because it is the best season for prawns, the mainstay of the fishery industry here in Pakistan.

Every day some 2,000 boats jostle for space in the murky waters of one of Pakistan’s oldest harbours. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers an area of about 240,000 sq km and the maritime zone of Pakistan, including the continental shelf, extends up to 350 nautical miles from the coastline.

Thus the country has the potential to become a major producer of seafood, not only for local consumption but for the global market as well. Currently, nearly 400,000 people are directly engaged in fishing in Pakistan and another 600,000 in the ancillary industries.

A fisherman walks in front of one of the many half-constructed wooden arks that lie strewn about the Karachi harbour. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

However, an industry that can earn valuable foreign exchange and create a huge job market contributes a dismal one percent to Pakistan’s GDP, with annual exports touching just 367 million dollars in 2013-2014, primarily to countries like China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea.

The average annual catch is almost 600,000 metric tons of more than 200 commercially important fish and shellfish species, found in and around the Karachi Harbour.

Illegal nets made of fine mesh end up trapping small, commercially unviable fish in massive quantities. Between 70 and 100 trucks, each loaded with 10,000 kg of trash fish, leave Karachi’s harbour each day. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

“This includes the catch from other harbours, even from Balochistan [located on the south-western coast], all of which comes here to be sold inland or exported,” says Sagheer Ahmed, spokesperson for the Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KFHA).

One way to increase the role of fisheries in national GDP, says Muhammad Moazzam Khan, ex-director general of the Marine Fisheries Department, is to put a stop to over-exploitation of fish stocks.

The harbour is an all-male domain. Anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 men work here on any given day. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

What was once an indigenous occupation, small fishermen say, has turned into a greedy enterprise, resulting in overharvesting of marine resources.

Kamal Shah, spokesperson for the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, a non-governmental organisation working for the rights of the local fishing community, says, “The indigenous people know how to recharge the marine life; they respect nature and follow the principles of sustainable livelihood, which seems lost on those who want to get rich quick.”

Before heading out to sea, fishermen gather in groups to see to the final details of their voyage: stocking up on food, checking the engines and repairing their nets. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

Khan, currently a technical advisor to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Pakistan, worries about extinction of several marine species. He lamented the depletion of shrimp, lobster, croaker, shark and stingrays due to over-exploitation.

“Recovery of these resources is very slow and even if these fisheries are closed down, it would still take decades to restore their stock,” he says.

Nearly 400,000 people are directly engaged in fishing in Pakistan and another 600,000 are involved in the ancillary industries according to the Karachi Fisheries Harbour Authority (KFHA). Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

Activists, like Shah, say a major problem is the use of illegal (fine mesh) nets that end up catching juvenile fish as opposed to the government-approved nets for deep sea and creek fishing.

These illegal nets literally sieve undersized fish that are economically not viable, but nevertheless important for keeping the marine ecosystem balanced.

Ahmed of the KFHA says Pakistan exported 50 million dollars worth of “trash fish” in the last financial year. “As many as 70 to 100 trucks each loaded with 10,000 kg of trash fish leave the KFHA every day,” he explains.

The WWF-Pakistan is worried about the extinction of several marine species. Experts are particularly concerned about the depletion of shrimp, lobster, croaker, shark and stingrays due to over-exploitation. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

Shah also blames the “industrial waste from factories and organic waste from the cattle colony” that goes untreated into the sea. According to the WWF-Pakistan, nearly 400 million gallons per day of untreated waste from Karachi goes into the sea.

But there is some good news for Pakistan’s fishing industry.

After blocking fish exports for six years, last year the European Union (EU) de-listed two of the more than 50 Pakistani companies and this year it is hoped another five will get the green signal. “More than 20 percent of the fish export went to the EU,” according to KFHA’s Ahmed.

Male children are roped into their father’s occupation very early in life, when they are taken onboard the ships as helpers. Few fisher families send their kids to school. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

An ineffective cold chain and low standards in traceability (tracking the supplier, date and time of transactions) were identified as major issues.

“Boats did not meet the specifications. Often the wooden floor and the wooden containers where catch was stored did not meet the hygiene standards, machines used to haul the net often leaked oil on the floor and the fish hold was found to be rusty,” Ahmed says.

Today nearly 1,000 boats have been modified. Fiberglass cladding in the fish-holds and the increased use of plastic crates have replaced wooden containers. This has also helped maintain the temperature required to keep the catch fresh.

The fishermen perform multiple tasks on the boat. This man makes fresh rotis (flat bread) from whole-meal flour, which the men eat with the fish they catch. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

In addition, processing and packaging factories have started tracking the catch to adhere to the EU’s condition of traceability of the catch.

While Pakistan is slowly reclaiming the EU market and has found its foothold in newer ones, it has a long way to go before establishing itself as a world-class fisheries hub.

Perhaps most importantly it will have to tackle increasing pollution that has decimated some of the most important fishing grounds along the Karachi coast. Similarly, it will have to combat the kind of environmental degradation caused by land reclamation and mangrove denudation, both of which reduce natural levels of productivity along the coast, especially in the Sindh province.

Edited by Kanya D’Almeida

Fishermen operating off the Karachi Harbour in southern Pakistan can earn up to 15,000 rupees (about 145 dollars) per month, but their income is dependent on their catch. As a result, many fisher families live in poverty. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Nov 3 2014 (IPS)

If you want to know what ‘sea traffic’ looks like, just go down to the Karachi Harbour. Built in 1959, the dockyard houses close to 2,000 big and small boats anchored in the grey sludge at the edge of Pakistan’s southern port city, which opens into the Arabian Sea.

Life on the jetty, an all-male domain, is anything but dull. The air is thick with the smell of fish. With anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 men working here on a given day, mornings are crowded and noisy with vendors auctioning and buyers inspecting the catch.

Loading and unloading of goods continues uninterrupted well into the afternoon; boats are being geared up for the voyage – rations are inspected, fuel, water and ice are stocked, last minute checks of the nets, the ropes and the engines are underway.

The income fluctuates – if the catch is good each fisherman can earn as much as 15,000 rupees (about 145 dollars) that month, but there is no fixed salary. These men only get a percentage based on their haul. There is a ban imposed by the government during the months of June and July because it is the best season for prawns, the mainstay of the fishery industry here in Pakistan.

The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers an area of about 240,000 sq km and the maritime zone of Pakistan, including the continental shelf, extends up to 350 nautical miles from the coastline.

Thus the country has the potential to become a major producer of seafood, not only for local consumption but for the global market as well. Currently, nearly 400,000 people are directly engaged in fishing in Pakistan and another 600,000 in the ancillary industries.

However, an industry that can earn valuable foreign exchange and create a huge job market contributes a dismal one percent to Pakistan’s GDP, with annual exports touching just 367 million dollars in 2013-2014, primarily to countries like China, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea.

Edited by Kanya D’Almeida

Estimates suggest that Pakistan can generate around 1,1000 megawatts of electricity through solar and wind sources. Credit: WWF-Pakistan

By Farrukh Zaman and Chaitanya Kumar
KARACHI/NEW DELHI, Jun 1 2014 (IPS)

Mukhtar Ali is one of the many Pakistanis who are furious at politicians and authorities for failing to provide citizens with a regular supply of electricity during the smouldering summer months.

Life for the 42-year-old shopkeeper in Karachi, Pakistan’s financial hub, becomes especially unbearable when his business suffers due to load-shedding (rolling power cuts), or when he tries to sleep at night without a fan to cool him.

“This has been going on for years now,” Mukhtar told IPS. “We have been promised on several occasions by previous governments and even the present one that the energy crisis will be resolved in their tenure. But so far, things remain the same. I cannot even express my anger towards such hypocrisy.”

“Pakistan has been [badly] impacted by extreme weather disasters due to climate change [...]. We will only be adding to the problem if we expanded the use of coal and other fossil fuels.” -- Umama Binte Azhar, a sustainability expert at Brunel University
The ongoing energy crisis is certainly one of the greatest challenges that Pakistan is facing. The current power shortage in the country has been estimated to be around 6,000 megawatts, with the industrial sector being hit the hardest due to the shortfall.

Since 2011, almost 70 percent of industries have either shut down or have outsourced their operations to countries like Malaysia and Bangladesh. The Economic Survey of Pakistan notes that during 2011-2012 around 4.8 billion dollars, or two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) was lost due to power outages.

As a result, after years of massive blackouts that have plagued the country and destroyed much of its industrial sector, energy-starved Pakistan is setting its eyes on a coal-fired future. Recent discoveries of massive ‘low’ and ‘low to medium’-quality coal reserves in the southern part of the country have led many to endorse the decision to compensate for the current energy deficit by setting up coal-fired power plants.

An economic and environmental nightmare

Regarded as the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, coal is considered one of the largest contributors of carbon emissions that are causing rapid climate change. Around the world, coal has been the cause of several social and environmental conflicts, and has resulted in massive human displacements in recent history.

Additionally, coal-related industries are responsible for creating water scarcity and food risks in countries where the use of water for energy is prioritised over agriculture and food production. This has led many experts and specialists in the energy and climate sectors to show reservations towards coal-fired power plants.

“Coal is exhaustive and an unsustainable resource for Pakistan,” Umama Binte Azhar, a sustainability expert at the London-based Brunel University, told IPS.

“Pakistan has been one of the worst impacted by extreme weather disasters due to climate change in recent years. We will only be adding to the problem if we expanded the use of coal and other fossil fuels.”

Despite this, the recent discovery of coal reserves in the Thar Desert in Pakistan’s southern Sindh Province has sparked both domestic and international interest. For example, China is set to invest around 1.5 billion dollars in Thar Coal. Similarly, Burj Power, a UAE-based company, has signed a deal worth 700 million dollars to set up four coal plants at Port Qasim, near Karachi.

Many UK and Czech-based companies are also expected to make such investments in Pakistan for the same purpose. A recent agreement signed between the Pakistan government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) stipulated that the latter would provide 900 million dollars worth of assistance to help Pakistan set up a power project in Jamshoro, a district of the Sindh province.

An estimated four coal plants are poised to become operational by 2016 at various points around the country to generate electricity. What is alarming about this plan is that running the plants will require coal to be imported in huge quantities from countries like Indonesia and South Africa since most coal deposits in Pakistan have low energy density.

The operation will be extremely costly, and will hold Pakistan hostage to imports and international markets for many years to come. Neighbouring India is learning this lesson the hard way, with high import prices of coal making thermal power plants economically infeasible without massive government bailouts and soaring energy prices to the end consumer.

Regional experiences

Pakistan is not the only country with plans to exploit coal for energy. Developing countries around the world and primarily South Asia are fixated on the notion that coal is cheap and therefore a viable source of energy for growing the economy and fighting poverty.

With almost 450 coal-fired power plants proposed to come up in the region, India’s hunger for this dirty fuel is rising. But the truth is that a majority of these plants will likely fail to come into being, as the last few years have shown.

Domestic coal production has hit a plateau as poor mining and transport infrastructure, as well as corruption scandals, have crippled Coal India Limited (CIL), the world’s largest coal miner. Efforts are underway to import coal from countries like Indonesia and Australia but rising coal prices have put a spanner in the industry’s works.

Over 30 power plants went on a distress sale last year as enthusiastic entrepreneurs built coal plants in haste but were unable to run them owing to massive coal shortages. This has become a recurring theme in India that is pushing coal-financing institutions to completely rethink their investment strategy.

Bangladesh is another example of where coal is being looked at as the panacea for poverty. But the recent eruption of public dissent against the proposed 1,320-MW Rampal power plant in the southwestern Khulna district – which is known in Bangladesh as the gateway to the ecologically sensitive tidal forest area called the Sunderbans – shows that the industry will not have it easy.

As coal plants begin competing for people’s need for land and negatively impacting agriculture, health and livelihoods, opposition for them will only rise as witnessed in pockets across the subcontinent.

Sri Lanka is steadily increasing its coal dependence as it projects 70 percent of its energy by 2025 to come from coal but that growth is mired in complex geopolitics that questions the primary motive behind coal expansion: is it to satisfy the capital interests of a few or the energy needs of the masses?

The story in Pakistan could turn out to be the same, as coal prices continue to head northwards and international financial institutions like the World Bank and the ADB grow increasingly wary of their investments in this fossil fuel.

Solving the crisis with renewables

Among the available alternatives, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and biomass have vast potential in Pakistan. Despite their high installation costs, renewable energy systems incur far fewer operational and maintenance expenses, making them highly profitable in the long run.

Globally, the cost of renewables has decreased drastically. Considering that the prices for solar panels have fallen from five dollars/watt to less than a dollar per watt in just a few years, solar energy has proven to be an affordable and practical option for Pakistan, especially since the country falls under a sun belt.

The wind corridor at Gharo-Keti Bunder in coastal Sindh is another potential source of power generation waiting to be fully explored. It has the potential to generate about 11,000 megawatts of electricity, according to a report published by the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

Regrettably, “inadequate investments, power tariffs, and institutional constraints have resulted in the dismal situation where renewable sources are not being fully tapped,” Asad Mahmood, the technical manager at the Energy Conservation Fund (ECF), told IPS.

Experts say Pakistan can avoid the trap that rapidly emerging economies have fallen into, and instead draw up a blueprint for large-scale decentralised renewable energy deployment. In a rapidly changing climate, nothing less would be acceptable.

(END)