The document summarizes research conducted on the lives of fishermen in Karachi, Pakistan. It discusses the socioeconomic challenges they face, such as lack of access to education, healthcare, and clean water. While fishermen earn a stable income from fishing, they struggle during off-seasons when fish catches are low. The research found that fishermen communities would benefit from training programs, alternative livelihood opportunities, and government assistance to improve their living standards throughout the year.

1. Lives of fishermen of Karachi
He is brave, he is strong, he is courageous and hardworking yet
he is not appreciated. He is fisherman!

2. About
Reason of choosing this topic:
• Curiosity
• Feeling of sympathy
Research Question:
Why they do not want to improve their standard of living?
Hypothesis:
They are financially strong and have opportunities.
Research Objectives:
1) To have knowledge about fishermen socio-economic life.
2) To have an elaborative view of their life and livelihood.

3. Scope of study:
• The canvas holds some important stakeholders perspectives.
• It includes the migrated and indigenous fishermen views.
Limitations:
• The study does not encompass the ecological aspect of marine resources.
• The study comprises of interviews and information provided by some
important stakeholders but unfortunately we failed to arrange interviews
from Navy officers and Coast guard because of some security issues.
• This study has been conducted in some fishermen communities, direct
access of some suburb villages are not possible, therefore, results can not
be generalized on entire fishermen of Karachi; however the socio-economic
problem of all fishermen communities are more or less same.
• The fishermen of Balochistan coastal areas are also facing many problems
but this study only focus fishermen of Karachi.

4. Research Topic
Theories and
concepts
Site selection
Data collection
Research Objectives
& Research question
Survey
Recommendations
Primary data Data analysis Secondary data
Conclusion Limitations
ResearchApproach

5. SECONDARY DATA:

6. Pakistan Coast
Northwestern Region
or Makran Coast
Southern region or
Sindh Coast
 The coast line of Pakistan extends from 1020 km along the Arabian Sea, the
coastline of Pakistan is Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
 The coastal areas of Pakistan are Sindh and Balochistan; Gwadar and Karachi are
two prominent harbors in Pakistan.
 On the basis of topographic and productivity, the coast is divided into two zones
Pakistan Coastline

7. Role of fisheries in Economy:
Fishing industry is important source of earning foreign exchange for
Pakistan. In Pakistan, import of fish is negligible while export is on
large scale, nevertheless, fisheries share in GDP is only 0.3%.
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
400,000
2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
Worth(USD,000) Seafood Export from Pakistan

8. Types of Fishing:
Shrimp Fishing
Tuna Fishing
Benthic Fishing
Pelagic Fishing
• Marine Fisheries Department
• Fisheries Training Center
• Pakistan Maritime Security
Agency
• Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum
Department of fisheries:

9. Overview of Map of surveyed areas

10. Primary Data

11. Overview of Fishermen Communities
Kakkapir Village, Sandspit:
The fishermen of Kakkapir Village claim that they are descendants of indigenous inhabitants of
Karachi. Kakkapir is one of the oldest village. The fishermen of Kakkapir use nets and they do
fishing near to the shore. There is no clean drinking water facility in the village; water borne
diseases are common among them. They face problems in off-seasons (May-June-July). They
sell their fish to fishery and sometimes private dealers come to them. They are independent,
happy and satisfied with their condition. They do not have any land problems. They live in
community with unity. They do not want to quit this occupation, and engage their children in
fishing at very early age.
Nagina, Kemari:
The fishermen of Kemari are not community based. They are deep sea fishermen, they go on
voyage of few weeks. Their key problem is unnecessary intervention of Navy. They can not quit
this profession because they are uneducated and they do not have any other skill, however, they
are willing to do any permanent job unlike fishing. There earnings are good but they face
problems in off-seasons the reason is they waste money and do not save. Their profit depends
upon the fish catch. The best thing they like about this occupation is that they are independent
in this profession, the more fish they have the more profit they get and they get profit without any
delay; they get money hand on hand once they docked their boats.

12. Chashma Village
The main source of income of Chashma Village people are Mangroves cutting, their
women also cut mangroves and sell wood and their males do fishing from nearest water
and use fishing nets. They have problem of clean drinking water. There is no school in
the village, the medical facilities are extremely poor in the village.
Baba Island and Bhitt Island:
They are indigenous fishermen, they use fishing nets and fishing rods for fishing. They
go on fishing for one day, some weeks and even for months as well. They major
problem is water, they purchase water of Rs.60 per gallon. In off-seasons, they use their
boats for providing transportation. There is poor quality of education and health
services on both islands. They also complaint about price fluctuation, they complain
that sometimes they get huge amount of fish catch but get same profit (when get low
fish catch). The Jetty of Baba Island and Bhitt Island is broken which increases their
difficulty while unloading their boats.
Fishery:
Here, I met with a group of Bengali fishermen. They invest approx. 4 lakh on one trip
and their income of Rs.27 lakh. Here, captain is the owner of the ship. He invested 2
lakh and one lakh from mole auctioneer and one lakh from fishery officer. 6% mole
commission, 5% fishery officer. He said that they save money for off-seasons and don’t
work in off-seasons. They are satisfied. Navy does not intervene because they have
complete documents. Their voyages is about one month; they don’t go on small trips.

13. Overview of officials
Marine Fisheries Department:
MFD is under control of Federal Government. Fisheries sector is on decline, the MFD officer describe the
reasons that:
• Over fishing
• Water pollution
• Using improper fishing techniques and harmful fishing nets
• Traditional boats
• The corruption in fisheries sector
Furthermore, he added that many Agencies like USAID and NGOs are earning money by name of fishermen.
But because fishermen are uneducated and unaware, they do not fight for their rights. The fishermen
communities are controlled by powerful personnel and it is not easy to intervene in their matters. And, they
fishermen earn good profits but they waste money. MFD provides different kinds of training for quality
assurance. The officer said, “Fisheries sector is in decline, in future, we don’t have fish to eat”. The major
chunk of fish catch are gone into trash and remaining are exported.

14. Overview of an NGO
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum:
They advocate the rights of fishermen. He explain us the profit division (called
patti division). The mole auctioneers (middle man) sell their fish to companies
and take his commission that is 6.5%. Some mole auctioneers are from fishery
and some come from private companies.
He said that Navy is powerful and but plays a positive role. Navy does strict
checking for safety of fishermen. He guide us about the income of fishermen. He
said that fishermen’s profit is unstable, it solely depends on the amount and type
of fish catch. For instance, if fishermen get Sua Machi whose price is 3-5 lakh.
He added that fishermen frequently use “Gutka” even their women and children
also eat “Gutka”.
He further told us that PFF will also advocate those fishermen who were arrested
by Indian Army for trespassing Indian border.

15. Findings Details
Types of Fishermen Indigenous and Migrated
Off-seasons survival • Cattle Farming
• Labour jobs
• Renting boats for events/parties
• Making and selling boats
• Taking loans
Lack of Awareness • Innate illiteracy
• No savings ideas/plans
Deprive of resources • Poor health services.
• No schools in many fishermen communities, and the quality
of education is extremely poor.
• Lack of fish storage capacity
Navy Intervention • Long process of pre-check and post-checking of crew
members.
• Cancel trip if any crew member is missing
• Recuse them in case of emergency during trip
Role of Government MFD- Navy- Customs- KPT
Reasons of continuing this
profession
• They are independent in this occupation
• Their ancestors profession
• No education and any other skill
FINDINGS

16. Findings Details
Jetty • Broken jetty
• Illegal jetty
• Legal jetty
Price fluctuation Fish rate are not fixed.
WTO WTO restricts for providing subsidy
FINDINGS

17. Specifications Kakkapir Kemari Chashma Baba Island And
Bhitt Island
Fishery
Cast Sindhi Multiple cast Sindhi Katchi Bengali
Fishing techniques Fishing nets Fishing rods and
hooks
Fishing nets They use both
fishing nets and
fishing rods
They use fishing
nets.
Boat size 12-15 feet 25-75 feet 12-15 feet Different sizes 25-75 feet
Voyage/trip Dawn to dusk or
sometimes one
day.
They go on few
weeks voyages.
Dawn to dusk or
sometimes one
day.
They go for one
day, few weeks
and sometimes
one month.
They go for one
months.
Mole
auctioneer/middle
man
They directly
deal with fishery
and private
dealers.
They deal through
mole auctioneer.
They directly sell
their fish in
markets.
They deal through
mole auctioneer.
They deal through
mole auctioneer.
Secondary Stakeholders perspective:
• Fishermen cut mangroves and use illegal nets which is extremely harmful for fish; ergo
sabotage fishing.
• All pre-requisites are for their safety and they think we waste their time.
• They do not have education and except few many fishermen does not save money, that
is an important reason they face difficulties in off-season.
• Many fishermen waste money.
ANALYSIS
Comparative Analysis of primary stakeholders:

18. Recommendations
Effective change regarding the poor situation of fishermen living in Karachi can be achieved by
the following points:
 Education
 Government Assistance during ban season
 Advocacy by civil society organizations
Education
Community
Awareness
Programs
Saving
Awareness
Program
Improve
Living
Standards
Eco-system Friendly
Awareness Program
Reduce
Exploitation Of
Fish Resources
Improve Livelihood Of Small Scale Fishermen
Training
Technical
Skill
Improve
Quality
Other
Vocational
Workshops
Alternate
Income
Establish Schools
For Girls And
Boys
Awarness Raise Voice And
Negotiate To
Government
SOLAR COLD
STORAGE
quality improve
Raise Income Level
fisher preservation
for off season
 Solar Cold Storage

19. Conclusion
 Majority of fishermen are not willing to quit this occupation.
 Education and health are serious issues of fishermen community. Due to their
unstable income they can not afford private schools and the government schools
quality of education are miserable.
 The fishermen face problems, but every occupation has it own pros and cons,
despite of the fact, majority fishermen (we surveyed) claim that they are happy
with their life and occupation.
 The positive fact is that the fishermen in those villages are intent to change their
present state. The urge for a positive change and willingness to offer personal
contributions for such a change is visible among both men and women. The
basic need is to facilitate their journey towards this change, with proper direction
and guidance.
 Fishermen are independent and this provide them a sense of being powerful but
due to various factors they fail to change their standard of living.

20. GROUP MEMEBERS:
1) Rimsha Tariq (DS-041)
2) Hira Naz (DS-006)
3) Muhammed Asim (DS- )
4) Tasneem Hussain (DS-002)
5) Maliha Amanat (DS-031)