The Pakistani diet is not exactly focused on fish. Unlike our neighbors to the east, we tend to focus on beef, chicken, and pulses for getting protein into our diet.
Statistics show our country to be the country with the lowest consumption of fish in the region, with less than 2kg per capita being consumed on average across the country. Compared to Sri Lanka, who consume about 16kg per capita, fish is a very small portion of the protein we consume here in Pakistan.
The more east we go, we tend to encounter more and more cultures that focus on fish and fish products for their protein needs. Bangladeshi food, Sri Lankan food, Chinese food, Japanese food, all of these consist of a certain reliance on fish and fish products.
Sushi, and Sashimi are considered to be fancy food in our country and is only really available in incredibly fancy and expensive restaurants only in the big cities. Other kinds of fish being consumed in the country tend to be whole fried river and fresh-water fish and can be found to be popular in the province of Baluchistan (more than 2kg per capita) and Sindh (1.6kg per capita).
Nevertheless, there is still a certain demand for fish in our country and our coast and many inland areas rely on farming or catching fish for meeting their economic needs. Most of the catch in Pakistan is marine in origin, tending to be close to 70% of the total catch, and a large proportion of it is exported to other countries. We export more fish than we consume and this is due to the fact that we do not really prefer fish as protein in our diets.
Thus we know that the low proportion of fish in our diets is not because of a lack of availability but more about preference.
Marine Subsector and Potential
With a coastline of more than a thousand kilometers, and access to warm seas, Pakistan’s marine export potential is huge. Even with the current rates of harvest, most coastal communities of Sindh and Baluchistan rely heavily on fish for their economy and livelihood. The production from marine and inland resources is close to a million tons annually.
However, the harvest was only about more than 650,000 metric tons of production normally. There is about 300 species of commercially important fish species currently being produced in the country, however, most of it is being exported instead of consumed by the country.
Lobster and shrimp are a large proportion of the fish life caught for foreign exchange. The practice started around the late 1950s with the mechanization of large vessels and trawlers able to harvest these kinds of species at a high rate. Most of the catch is not consumed in the local market but frozen and exported to North America and Europe.
Tuna is caught but at a lesser rate, with more traditional methods. Most of the catch is chilled and sent to Iran, or salted and sent to Sri Lanka. This is an area where improvements can be made with better vessels and improved technology allowing for larger catches whilst ensuring that the current resources do not run about through better planning of what kind of fish are caught and when.
Another unexploited sector is Benthic, or deep sea fishery. Snappers, Groupers, and Pomfrets are profitable harvests but cannot be caught without vessels adapted for deep sea catches. Investment in this sector is the current target of local entrepreneurs and there are some small scale ventures looking to exploit this sector. Unfortunately, the government and the public at large are unconcerned with exploiting deep sea resources to the extent to which it can become commercially and economically viable for the country. There is high foreign demand for the kinds of fish species that can be caught via this method of deep sea fishing.
Inland Subsector and Potential
The Indus river and its tributaries are the main source for inland production in the country. The river accounts for the marine catch in an indirect manner as well, this is because of the large variety of minerals and nutrients are carried through the north of the country to the south all the way to the sea. Thus it is highly important for proper management of the waste products being dumped into the river and its tributaries or fertilizer overuse in the fields that lead to it.
In any case, the river and reservoirs on it are very important to most inland production of fish species in the country.
Apart from the rivers, there are a thousand natural lakes that are present throughout the country that produce a sizable portion of fish production. Sindh has about a thousand of these lakes and lakes like Manchar and Kinjhar support many fishing communities on their own.
Aquaculture has exploded in the country in the last few decades and account for around 100,000 metric tons of fish production in the country. There is immense potential for growth in the sector and the production of fishmeal for the agriculture and animal husbandry makes it a good choice for small-scale farmers as well.
Why we don’t eat fish
Fish as a good source of lean protein and omega-3 fatty acids is an excellent food choice, however it is somewhat looked down upon. Fish is proven to improve fetal neural function during pregnancy. It also reduces neural degeneration in the elderly. However, it is not a popular food in Pakistan.
The younger generation quite literally shut their noses when encountering any fish products and the traditional fish dishes are on the decline when it comes to popularity. The fish pulao of Sindh and the fish fried of Lahore are the only two known fish dishes in the mainstream food culture of Pakistan. And these two are also dying out. Fish is rumored to be of garm taseer (hot in nature) and are traditionally consumed in winter times only. It is also thought that fish causes vitiligo if consumed in conjunction to any dairy products.
This is a sad reality where a potentially cheaper source of protein is replaced with unhealthy amounts of beef or chicken which have become expensive in their own right. If fish production is increased and so does the market, then no doubt fish production can be made to achieve economies of scale to the point of being a cheaper source of protein in the long run. Never mind how much healthier a population is when fish is a larger portion in their diet.
