Kuwait Times

Zap fishing with generators: Pakistani fishermen

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HAJI ZAI: Abbas Khan feeds a hot wire from a rickety generator into a river, a fishing technique he argues is more environmen­tally friendly than others used in northwest Pakistanth­ough he also admits it has killed several of his friends. Hundreds of fishermen risk their lives daily to hunt the rare fish known as “sher mahi”, found in the Kabul River which flows from the Hindu Kush in Afghanista­n into neighborin­g Pakistan, before merging with the Indus.

Some swim for hours on inner tubes, dragging nets behind them. Others use more brutal-and illegal-techniques: spraying pesticides directly into the river or, like Khan, using the electric current from generators to stun the river’s inhabitant­s into submission. And, for those in a hurry, there is always the brutal but effective “Khatin bomb”-dynamite.

These imprecise techniques are a threat to the river’s population, say dismayed convention­al fishermen who have made their living selling sher mahi, considered the best for eating in Pakistan’s northwest. “Fishing with dynamite and generators kills the entire population,” says Ghani Ur Rehman. Like dozens of his fellow fishermen, the 58-year-old spends hours each day swimming the river on an inner tube, dragging his net behind him, catching only a few kilos at a time. He has done so for 25 years. “Now, the fish’s population has decreased and the main reason is an increase in fish hunting,” he says, emptying his net on to the shore.

Along the banks of the Kabul River hundreds of visitors can be seen enjoying family days of boating and wading, topped off with a hearty meal of fresh sher mahi and other river fish at dozens of huts and restaurant­s. Sher mahi, with few bones and found in Pakistan only in the Kabul River, is similar to catfish, growing to a maximum of 30 centimeter­s. Some fishermen say its name come from the Persian word “sheer”, or “milk”, due to its rich oily taste. Rehman says he makes on average 600 to 1,000 rupees a day-but on days when the fish are plentiful his income can soar to 10,000 rupees.

Speaking with AFP along the river, Khan admitted using a generator in the water was “scary”-but said that, despite his lack of safety gear, he has learned the correct the technique. “Some of my friends had died because of electrofis­hing but now we have learnt it, now we know how to hunt in the best way,” he explained, before demonstrat­ing how to attach wires to a metal rod then place the rod in a net in the water. “It stuns the fish and brings it to surface. Then we collect the fish and put it a cooler,” Khan said. “Some people use pesticides for fishing but that destroys the entire population of fish. It also poisons the water and kills everything in the river, wherever it flows,” he argued.

‘Scary’

Rehman and Khan’s anxiety is echoed by other fishermen in Haji Zai, in the suburbs of the Khyber Pakhtunkhw­a provincial capital Peshawar. Fishing by dynamite was banned by authoritie­s in 1982, but there was not a serious decrease until after the launch of a military operation in the adjacent tribal areas in 2009 made the explosives slightly-but only slightly-more difficult to get ahold of. Fishing with generators and chemicals remains common, despite also being banned. Khair Gulknown as “Larram”, or “Scorpion”, an old childhood nickname that stuck-is mayor of Haji Zai village and himself an avid fishermen.

Authoritie­s, he says, are not serious about stopping poaching. “We have taken action against such groups but the local officials used to set them free after taking (a bribe) of 400 to 500 rupees ($5),” he said. “Use of dynamite, generator shocks and poisonous chemicals is not only a crime but also dangerous for health and causes disease. We ask the government to ban it completely,” he adds. But the problems with a ban become obvious after speaking with officials.—AFP

 ??  ?? A Pakistani fisherman collects a fish in a net after using a ‘hot-wire’ to stun the fish with an electric current in the River Kabul, at Hajji Zai village in Pakistan’s northweste­rn Charsadda District.
A Pakistani fisherman collects a fish in a net after using a ‘hot-wire’ to stun the fish with an electric current in the River Kabul, at Hajji Zai village in Pakistan’s northweste­rn Charsadda District.
 ??  ?? A Pakistani fisherman casts a net into the River Kabul, at Hajji Zai village in Pakistan’s northweste­rn Charsadda District.
A Pakistani fisherman casts a net into the River Kabul, at Hajji Zai village in Pakistan’s northweste­rn Charsadda District.

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