198 EIGHTH PACIFIC SCIENCE CONGRESS 



bour is intended to provide all modern facilities for berthing of fishing 

 boats, modern curing and other processing facilities for fish and fish 

 products, ice and cold storage, and wholesale marketing of marine fish. 

 Similar schemes for mechanisation of craft and gear, refrigerated trans- 

 port, refrigerated markets and processing plants in other parts of the 

 country are in their final form. 



Private enterprise is also stepping forward, although rather slowly. 

 A fish meal plant will go into production within the next month or 

 two; another plant for freezing shrimps is expected to start operation 

 before the end of 1953; and keen interest is being displayed by several 

 concerns in the possibilities of fishing with mechanised craft and gear, 

 of canning fish, particularly of shrimps, and producing vitaminous shark 

 liver oil. 



Implementation of the proposed development measures in fisheries 

 will, no doubt, require considerable capital investment. On the other 

 hand, the economic condition of the fishermen does not make it possible 

 for them to invest in the development of the industry. Except a minor 

 fraction, the capital so far invested has come from Government account 

 and from the Colombo Plan and the U.S. Technical Co-operation funds. 

 Recently Sweden has also offered some aid. Although pilot scale 

 development plans may seem advisable at present some well-integrated 

 overall policy will induce expeditions and increased flow of private 

 capital into the fisheries industry. Effective efforts should be made to 

 improve the economic condition of the fishermen so that they may them- 

 selves be in a position to invest in the development of the industry. In 

 this respect the fishermen should be organized into cooperative societies. 

 These societies should provide credits and link credits with purchase of 

 necessities of the industry and of life on the one hand and the sale of 

 the produce on the other. 



Viewed in the general context of the economic and nutritional 

 problems of Pakistan, and of the world food situation, the need for the 

 development of fisheries in Pakistan cannot be over-emphasised. The 

 development plans should be co-ordinated and integrated into an over- 

 all policy so that the development of the industry may serve the interests 

 of the producers, the middlemen and the consumers alike. 



Bibliography 



AHMEa), M. Hilsa Fisheries in Sind. Agri. Pak., Vol. Ill, No. 1 & 2, 1952. 

 Kesteven, G. L. Report on the Fisheries of Pakistan, Ministry of Food and 



Agriculture, Government of Pakistan, Karachi, 1950. 

 and S. W. Ling. Report on the Fisheries of East Pakistan. (Ms.) 



1951. 



