Saving Biodiversity: The Coastal Collapse – Guja Nets and Lost Futures

By: Dr. Mushaiyada

Fishing is an important source of nutrition, income, and livelihood for millions of people around the world. However, the increasing use of illegal fishing nets has become a serious concern for the environment and economic. These fishing gears do not comply with government regulations regarding size, design or usage. Such nets are often designed to catch large quantities of fish without considering species, size, or breeding conditions. As a result, they capture fish juvenile, endangered species and other marine organisms that should be protected.

Illegal nets are playing a major role in affecting natural marine habitat like coral reefs and sea beds, which is crucial for the marine biodiversity.The regulation of illegal fishing gear is crucial for the conservation of marine resources, the sustainable exploitation of fisheries and the sound ecological health of aquatic environments for generations to come.In many parts of the world laws and monitoring have been enacted to stop the use of illegal nets, but in some areas there is still difficulty in enforcing these measures.

In a similar scenario, the silent disaster is gradually taking place along Pakistani coastline which is being done by the use of “Guja” and “Bulo” fishing nets. The nets have been passed down to the fishermen by their ancestors and are commonly used by the local fishermen for decades. Nevertheless, they are considered illegal and prohibited fishing tools. These nets also known as the “vacuum cleaners of the sea” capture all types of fish, including the endangered species and juveniles. Several studies of the shrimp trawl fisheries of the Persian Gulf revealed that a high percentage of the by catch was made up of juveniles.

Conservationists warn that this indiscriminate exploitation is driving the region toward ecological collapse. These nets due to their smaller mesh sizes and dragging along the sea bottom capability, are famous for high yield with lesser effort. However, this yield comes with a heavy price tag in different domain. The corals, benthic habitats and mangrove ecosystems are broken up in the process. These habitats not only serve as biodiversity hotspots, but they are also carbon sinks that help reduce climate change. The destruction of nursery grounds will disrupt the natural replenishment process and result in a decline in commercially important species.

The results and environmental destruction of these nets is shocking. Research has indicated that as much as 60 % of the catch taken from these nets is declared as “trash fish”—juvenile fish that was supposed to be replenishing the existing stocks. However, after the catch, they are used as inexpensive fish food for poultry feed. Research from Pakistan’s northern Arabian Sea documented increasing catches of juveniles and sub-adults of commercially important fish species, warning that the continued harvesting of immature fish poses a serious threat to fishery sustainability. Their elimination contributes to climate change, loss of resilience to climate change and rising sea levels and failure to meet commitments under international biodiversity and climate change agreements for Pakistan. This has a similar impact in terms of socio-economic effects.

The fishing communities of Sindh and Balochistan with sustainable catches are heading for an economic disaster. As fish stocks are depleting, fishermen are going further into the water and facing higher expenses and risks. Industrial trawlers kill everything and traditional fishing methods used by the people for generations are being wiped out. Women and children are most affected, as they rely on fish for their nutrition and livelihood. After ecological collapse, poverty, migration and social instability follow. While a healthy fishery would support livelihoods and provide food security, without law and order it only brings benefits to a few coastal corrupt officials.

This is compounded by weak governance and a fragmented legal framework. Provinces have legislation that restrict some types of nets, but there is poor compliance and there are loopholes being used. Offenders can evade penalties because of the lack of regulation. The courts are slow to act and offenders will not be deterred. This absence of governance has fostered a culture of illegal nets, making them a symbol of faster yield and easy catch.

The government is precarious in prohibiting raw materials for the making of Guja/Bulo nets, closing factories that produce them and in the implementation of the vessel monitoring systems. Introduction of bycatch reduction devices significantly reduced the capture of juvenile commercial fish species. Experimental work on juvenile fish excluder devices demonstrated that modifying fishing gear can reduce the capture of juvenile finfish, shrimps, and crabs, highlighting that conventional fine-mesh nets retain many immature organisms that could otherwise escape.

PMSA/Coast Guards may be afforded more freedom to make joint Maritime Patrols without provincial interference to curb this practice. Digitized auctions to end manual bidding culture, eliminating malpractices in fisheries departments and including the participation of indigenous fishermen in coastal policing are immediate provincial actions needed. Education, participatory governance and awareness campaigns can empower fishing communities to assume responsibility for the conservation at the community level.

This is an issue that will require public awareness, more stringent rules and more community participation.Consumer and advocacy including civic action can force a response from authorities.Without coordination of these activities, Pakistan will be at risk of losing its marine biodiversity, which will also be an important food security and economic pillar.

Each day that passes equates to more biodiversity lost, more fish stocks are depleting and more ecological future of the country at risk. Solutions are available. Need is to find them and implement them. In order to safeguard its marine wealth for Pakistan, it is important to act swiftly and more importantly the time in now.

About the Author:

Dr. Mushaiyada Mairaj, is a distinguished Research Fellow and Marine Biologist at the National Institute of Maritime Affairs (NIMA) in Karachi. She holds a Ph.D. in Marine Biology and specializes in the research areas: Fisheries and Zooplankton composition/structure, Marine Pollution, Indus River Estuary contamination risks and Impacts of climate change on coastal waters.