In a rally marking Tuesday’s World Fisheries Day, fishermen’s representatives called for an end to illegal occupation of bodies of water, overfishing and seawater pollution, all of which have far reaching implications for and indigenous fishermen, small fisheries and marine life. Addressing the audience at a rally outside the Karachi Press Club, Muhammad Ali Shah, chairman of the Pakistan Fisherfolk’s Forum which sponsored the event, said in a speech that overfishing, environmental pollution, and increasing urbanization and industrial activities are destroying the natural source of income of the fishing communities. This has also led to depletion of fish stocks, compelling fishermen to leave their means of livelihood, he said. He said that the “Blue Growth” initiative taking root in Pakistan will restructure the control of fishing resources, and indigenous fishermen will lose out to industrial fishing. Corporate actors, he said, have begun to generate around it, are trying to get on their side people, communities and government departments and other institutions. Muhammad Ali Shah said he feared that this change will be a setback to small-scale fisheries already under a serious crisis in Pakistan. Hundreds of lakes are already in illegal occupation of influential persons such as the local landlords, he said. Meanwhile, the fishing communities there are losing their cultural identities and traditional lifestyles, as well as their livelihood, he added. There is no justification for the lakes’ takeover from the fishermen since they possess licenses, he said, pointing out that the superior courts have issued ordered that only the fishermen have the right to catch the fish in the lakes. Turning to Pakistani fishermen’s frequent detentions by Indian authorities, he said more than 150 Pakistani fishermen are languishing in Indian jails for many years, which is pushing their families to starvation. The PPF urged the Sindh government to define the Fisheries Policy, calling on the Sindh Assembly to pass legislation against overfishing and habitat destruction and other factors posing a serious threat to the sustainability of Pakistan’s marine and freshwater resources.