The people living along Balochistan’s beaches have always fought to defend the sea that feeds them.
asserted
that → live → them
For years, fishermen from Gwadar to Lasbela accused large trawlers from Sindh of sweeping up everything in their path when they entered Balochistan’s twelve-nautical-mile waters.
asserted
they → accuse → waters
Their prohibited wire nets or “gujja” trapped juvenile fish, breeding stock and species with scant commercial value, leaving little behind.
asserted
nets → prohibit → little
This fight defined the Haq Do Tehreek movement that united thousands around a single demand: save the sea before it is emptied.
asserted
it → define → sea
Today, that friction has turned inwards over a fish that barely fits in your palm and is banned from fishing: the Beechum (or Paseli).
asserted
that → turn → palm
Scientists call it the Fringescale Sardine because it rarely grows beyond 11cm and spends its life moving in dense schools.
asserted
it → call → schools
“We never used to catch it,” says 65-year-old Ghulam Muhammad who spent his life in the waters off Ormara.
asserted
who → use → Ormara
“The bigger fish follow these schools of Beechum and those are the ones we actually wanted,” he says.
asserted
he → follow → Beechum
“If we wipe out Beechum, one day we will lose the larger fish too.“
asserted
we → wipe → fish
This understanding shaped the trade along the Makran coast long before governments spoke of marine conservation.
asserted
governments → shape → conservation
“Earn your livelihood from the sea but don’t set fire to the fishermen’s fields,” as Gwadar activist Javed Hayat puts it.
Time and money
High-powered speedboats, known locally as “kayak” changed the game so the younger lot don’t want to spend days searching for tuna and king mackerel.
asserted
lot → earn → tuna
A fishing trip used to demand patience because the Yak-dar or heavy wooden boats were slow, but could remain at sea for days, carrying enough food, water and fuel.
uncertain
dar → use → food
Crews waited for the fish they wanted rather than chasing whatever could be sold quickest.
uncertain
whatever → wait → fish
Unlike the old wooden boats that took nearly a day to reach distant fishing grounds, these speedboats can make the same journey in less than three hours so a crew can now return the same day and head back out again the next morning.
asserted
crew → take → hours
Their numbers have rapidly grown, say local activists, because the cross-border diesel trade with Iran has made it possible for rich newcomers to enter the fishing business.
asserted
newcomers → grow → business
As catch declined, fishermen grew impoverished.
asserted
fishermen → decline → ?
Today many of them don’t even own their nets but have to borrow gear, fuel and equipment from seafood processors or factory owners under agreements that require them to sell their catch back to them.
asserted
that → own → them
Now that market forces control the decision-making, these businesses are happy to pay for a fish that was once left in the sea.
asserted
that → control → sea
Demand from China and Malaysia for the sardines has gone up and the men are just following the market, explains Nagman Baloch, the general secretary of the Seafood Association.
asserted
Baloch → go → Association
So now, from Sindh to Sonmiani the waters have been depleted by persistently hoovering up one of the last links in the food chain.
asserted
waters → deplete → chain
Balochistan’s coastline stretches more than 730 kilometres, and fisheries support the livelihoods of over seventy percent of the province’s coastal population.
asserted
fisheries → stretch → population
Yet official assessments conclude that almost all conventional marine resources within the province’s jurisdiction are now either fully exploited or overexploited.
asserted
resources → conclude → jurisdiction
Some of the most valuable commercial species, including snappers, groupers, croakers and shrimp have declined to critical levels.
asserted
Some → include → levels
The intensive harvesting of juvenile fish and small pelagic species is preventing stocks from recovering.
asserted
harvesting → prevent → stocks
Law and order
Pressure is being exerted on the government and Fisheries Department by both sides for and against the ban.
asserted
Pressure → exert → ban
It would be counterintuitive to lift it as that would destroy the very ecosystem the fishermen once fought to protect.
asserted
fishermen → lift → ecosystem
But times are tight and many men argue they just can’t afford to leave Beechum in the sea.
asserted
they → argue → sea
Some of the resentment and anger comes from the unequal application of the ban.
asserted
Some → come → ban
“If it is banned, then ban it across the entire Balochistan coast,” says Younis Anwar of the Gwadar Fishermen’s Alliance (Gwadar Mahigeer Ittehad).
asserted
Anwar → ban → Alliance
“Why should it only be enforced in Gwadar tehsil?”
asserted
it → enforce → tehsil
No one is against ecological conservation but that is a conversation that applies to everyone.
asserted
that → apply → everyone
“If the whole coast is covered by the ban, we will support it,” he says.
asserted
he → cover → it
“But everyone should be treated the same.”
asserted
everyone → treat → ?
That said, policing the waters is, to him, a waste of time.
asserted
policing → say → time
The government would do better to create artificial reefs as breeding grounds and push for the use of marine-friendly nets.
asserted
government → do → nets
“If the fish increase,” he says, “people won’t have to depend on Beechum.”
asserted
people → increase → Beechum
Slip right through
The growing dependence on catching the small fish has made the men fight over even the size of the mesh in a net.
asserted
men → slip → net
Government officials explain it in inches.
asserted
officials → explain → inches
Fishermen explain it in “chamag”.
asserted
Fishermen → explain → chamag
Younis Anwar stretches out his arm.
asserted
Anwar → stretch → arm
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
