Callous use of plastic threatens marine life in Balochistan’s coastal areas

Zareef Baloch

Quetta: A local fisherman was standing near his boat on the beach of Pasni, the fishing port of Gwadar. Plastic nets were scattered around him. Due to closure of Pasni fish harbour (JT), fishermen often anchor their boats on different shores, especially at a place called “Hor”.

I asked a local Fisherman, Iqbal, whether he was aware of the level of danger posed to the marine life?  He frankly replied ‘no’. He did not know how harmful these plastic-made nets could be to the marine life. My strongest belief is that almost all fishermen fishing in the sea waters of Balochistan do not fully comprehend the dangers of plastic items related to marine life.

Almost everywhere boats are anchored, obsolete plastic net pieces can be seen piled up. This not only causes water pollution but also interferes with and disturbs marine life.

The coastal area of Balochistan stretches from Jiwani to Gaddani.  This 780 Kilometers long coast belt is home to a wide variety of aquatic endangered marine species.

There are many beautiful beaches in this coastal region. Local and non-local tourists come for picnics, entertainment and enjoyment. Their casualness and carelessness are also adding to the pollution of these salubrious beaches. Both tourists and fishermen are inadvertently damaging the marine environment.

According to experts, plastic nets and other plastic items could take around four hundred years to completely decompose, with heat and humidity dissolving them into small particles. These small particles are one of the reasons for the death of aquatic species. Even though the Balochistan government has legally banned the use of plastic nets, fishermen continue to use them because of convenience and manageable cost.

Deputy Director of  Environment for Balochistan Wali Khilji explained that before approving any development project in the coastal areas, we strictly prohibit the industrialists from dumping plastic on nearby beaches. The use of plastic nets badly injured and damaged species, for example, plastic nets break down and turn into small particles which are swallowed by fish and other species. Darran beach; Jiwani, Taak beach; Ormara; and Astola Island are the habitats for green turtles. As Green turtles’ favorite food is jellyfish and they eat plastic bags floating in the Ocean taking these to be jellyfish which results in serious injuries and, sometimes, death.

According to the data gathered by the World Wild Fund (WWF), and the local sources, about 50  shells of turtles were found in Gwadar in 2020, most of these were considered to have died from the result of plastic items, especially plastic nets.

Naseer Lal, a student in the department of marine sciences, explained that plastic nets are more dangerous than any other type of nets. These cause death of marine species as they swallow them. The threads of plastic nets are sharp and can easily injure the species that get caught in them because the plastic nets are easy and convenient for fishing, this also leads to over-fishing. The dangers, he thinks, posed by plastic nets to marine life are multi-pronged, disturbing and fatal.

Shoib Kayani, an assistant professor of marine science at Karachi University, asserts that a comprehensive plan for the elimination of plastic nets and other Plastic-made items has to be formulated and implemented. The government should completely ban environmentally-unfriendly products. Due to the lack of data and quality testing facilities, we do not have access to the European market and our export of fish to leading international markets is almost negligible and in some cases banned.

In short, the growing use of plastic-made nets combined with insouciance of authorities carries immense risk for the elimination of valuable species. In order to overcome the problem, extensive campaigns amongst the users of plastic-made nets, implementation of legal codes that prohibit the use of plastic, and effective management of out-of-use nets on shores and beaches should be meticulously implemented.

Otherwise, the marine environment of Balochistan will soon lose its tranquillity, peace and beauty resulting in the extinction of marine species. This would be a mournful situation for the lovers of marine life in our coastal areas. The cost to the economy of the coastal areas would be catastrophic.