International Journal of Marine Science 2015, Vol.5, No.18, 1-7
2
The inland production is low despite having immense
potential. This decreased production is a result of
insufficient knowledge, lack of fishing gears and lack
of skillful and motivated manpower (Nazir et al.,
2014). Indus River, along its tributaries, is the main
capture point of freshwater fish. Inland fish capture is
mainly from rivers and reservoirs. It contributes more
than 80% of the fish from fresh water inland
environment. To promote fisheries sector, six large
reservoirs have been created, spanning in an area of
250,000 ha. Definitely all of these efforts are for the
improvement in fisheries sector thus strengthening
agriculture (FAO, 2009).
It has become the fact that countries neglecting
expansion in agriculture cannot boost their economy.
There exists a close connection between agriculture
growth and economic upliftment. High agricultural
growth ensures high economic development and vice
versa (Timmer, 2002). In fact when agriculture sector
improves, automatically export increases, thus
revenue start to climb. A study has shown that
countries with high growth showed rapid increase in
their exports which ultimately depend upon
production. Export oriented strategy is better than
import substitution strategy. Thus import and export
are valuable indicators of a country’s economic
status particularly in specific sector, they portrait
overall picture that depict economic standing
(
).
There are many studies which highlight fisheries
sector (Akhter, 1995; Sarfraz, 2009; Shahid, 2012) but
don’t portrait their economic importance and
contribution. This is the pivotal study which links
fisheries sector production to its economic importance.
The project objectives were to collect information
regarding contribution of fisheries sector in agriculture
and import and export values for economic analysis
and to draw meaningful conclusion.
1 Material and Methods
An extensive review of literature related to fisheries
sector as well as import and export impact on the
economy of Pakistan was explored to gain full insight
into the project objectives. To encounter limited data
situation all possible options were employed. Online
available websites displaying reports, research papers,
data papers or short communications were thoroughly
studied. The principal data was collected from FAO
Fisheries and Aquaculture Department website
(
. The Country’s Govt. fisheries
reports and publications or journals were also used for
data mining. Related information was also collected
from concerned departments such as Ministry of Food,
Agriculture and Livestock (MinFAL) and Marine
Fisheries Department (MFD). For meaningful
representation of the data Minitab 17 was used to
construct graphs.
2 Results
This study found that overall production of fish and its
products have increased many times during the last
two decades in Pakistan. During the first three years of
this study, 1991 to 1993, the production of fish and its
products increased very much. In 1991 there was a
production of 22,255 tons while it reached up to
76,910 tons in 1993. However rapid increase in this
sector could not continue and for the next two years,
1994 and 1995, the production decreased. There
remained a general trend of increased production from
1996 to 2004 with a production value of 67,479 tons
in the former year and 93,820 tons in the latter year.
The production quantity in 2004 was the largest
among all the years studied however in the next year,
2005, it again declined with a production value of
74,419 tons. The last five years showed gradual
increase in production with a value of 82,448 tons in
2010 (Figure 1).
In Pakistan among various types of fish, the two most
produced commodities are dried, salted or smoked
fish and frozen fish excluding fillets and meat. Both of
these types have increased in their production during
the last two decades. It is very vivid that in 1991, the
production quantity of the former commodity was
13,077 tons which increased and reached up to 40,941
tons in 1993. After declining to 31,585 tons in 1995 it
again started to boom and reached at its peak in 2004
with a production quantity of 55,737 tons. During this
period there remained a slump in dried, salted or
smoked fish production in 2001 with a production
quantity of 43,783 tons. Major fall in the production
occurred in 2005 (32,278 tons) but next years showed
gradual increase in the production up to 2010 (36,868
tons). Frozen fish production almost followed the same
pattern as described for former commodity. However its
production showed rapid decline during 1994 (16,187
tons) then again it rose up during 1996-97. From 1998
(25,461 tons), there was an increasing trend in the
production up to 2010 (45,580 tons) (Figure 2).
