Fishermen concerned over falling squid, cuttlefish catch.

Fast declining Mayyah catch (squid, cuttlefish) along the 1,050-km Pakistan coastline has disturbed fishermen’s families, as its peak season has started. Local fishermen say that the species travels from the open sea to the country’s beaches for two months usually, September and October. However, a former Director-General, Marine Fisheries Department, Mohammed Moazzam, sharing his vast knowledge about the marine species, said the wintry weather - mid-September to early March - is its peak season. He identified increasing marine pollution and over-fishing by deep sea trawlers as the main reason for vanishing Mayyah-like other species.

Deep sea trawlers use huge nets, catching marine species, separate commercial fish and discard the dead species again into the sea water, causing marine pollution. Mohammed Moazzam said that Mayyah was popular seafood in China, Korea, Japan, and Spain. It is part of the octopus family, which a small number of people in Pakistan also relish. He said that there were 46 species of Mayyah in Pakistan of which seven were commercially important.

Specifically, this species travels from the open sea to beaches, instead of creeks. That is why fishermen catch it by using specific nets. It squirts out a cloud of blue ink whenever it is disturbed or caught. Some careful people collect that ink, which is widely used in homoeopathic medicines and its fragile bone is used extensively for cage bird as calcium supplement. Khuda Ganj Shad, who belongs to scenic Mubarak Village, Keamari Town said that fishermen use mud crabs in hook and wire and each man can catch 6—7kg Mayyah daily in the season now, as compared to 50—70kg they used to catch 20 years back.

He said that the buyers had controlled the market to keep the prices of seafood down benefiting the exporting companies to earn huge profits. At local jetties middlemen take Mayyah at Rs65 per kg, selling it in the market at Rs500 per kg. Due to declining sources of living, greedy fishermen depend on catching Mayyah and crabs in the wintering season for their livelihood. Now even small crabs, which fishermen use in catching Mayyah, are becoming extinct in the mud inside the mangroves forests. These useless crabs are on sale at Rs300 per dozen as compared to Rs30 per dozen, some 20 years back in the local market. Shad said that long ago elderly fishermen were reluctant to catch Mayyah while going to the open sea or harvesting nets near the beaches, because there was sufficient stock of seafood. However, commercial fish species had been out. People had shifted to Mayyah to ease their families’ plight earning a little amount.

Talking about the importance of blue ink and fragile bone, he said that the local people still prepare feed for caged parrots and other birds. Elderly boat captain Qasim Nakhuo, belonging to Keti Bunder said that now hardly few lucky fishermen catch 5—6-kg Mayyah daily. Otherwise, the marine species have declined. Being a captain of fishing boat Qasim used to live a happy life but now he was facing difficulties due to the declining fish catch. Annual landing of Mayyah shows that in 1999 its catch was recorded at 10208 ton, in 2000 it was 9377 ton, in 2001 it was 7673 tons while in 2009 its catch declined to 5000 tons only, leaving fishermen in a dilemma.

Story courtesy of The News.