The paper deals with the socio-economic condition of the fishermen communities of Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth

Borgstrom, Reidar

Hasan, Abrarul

Kazmi, Quddusi B.

Aquatic Commons

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STUDY IN TWOAREAS ON THE
COAST OF SINDH, PAKISTAN
Abrarul Hasan, Reidar Borgstrm and Quddusi B. Kazmi
Zoological Survey Department Block 61 Pakistan Secretariat, Karachi Pakistan (AH);
Department of Biology and Nature Conservation, Agricultural
University of Norway (RB); Marine Reference Collection and
Resource Centre, University of Karachi (QBK).
ABSTRACT: The paper deals with the socio-economic condition of the fishermen
communities of Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth.
KEYWORDS: Fishery, Ibrahim Hyderi, Rehri Goth, Middleman.
INTRODUCTION
The study area of Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth, where most of the landing from
Sindh mangrove concentrate is situated at the Korangi area, to the south east of Karachi.
Fishing is the predominant activity of the area. It is a hereditary profession passed
on through generations. The fishermen are dependent on the harvest from the seas for
their livelihood. Therefore, change in their environment can have a sever impact on their
lives. Fishermen are very important for he economy of Pakistan. In Pakistan, fisheries
sector provides jobs to hundreds of thousands of people. According to IUCN, in 1987,
250,000 people were either employed full time or part time in fisheries, and 50,000 in
fish processing and marketing.
The fishermen of the area are generally poor, particularly in the slack season. No
alternative jobs in the slack season combined with the system of loans have produced
adverse affects on their lives. According to IUCN (1992), 68% keep on fishing in the
slack season, 1% catch crabs, 5% do other work, and 26% become unemployed.
At Sindh coast, the existing system of providing loans to fishermen is a repressive
system. The middleman, who provides the loans, is an integral part of the marketing
system in the fishing community. The fishermen cannot survive without loans, and use
the middleman for loans through their life. The process of obtaining a loan, and the terms
and conditions of repayment vary slightly from village to village. In Rehri the headman
provides the loan, whereas in Ibrahim Hyderi the middleman has a monopoly (IUCN
1992).
The aim of the present study is to know the problems and thoughts of the fishermen
communities of the area.
MATERIALSAND METHODS
The methodology used for this survey was questionnaires. Survey was conducted in
two villages Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth. A total of 118 fishermen were interviewed.
The respondents were selected at random, the objective being to interview only the
fishermen directly related to fishing. Thus both captains and crew members were
Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol. 10(1), 35-41, 2001.
interviewed. Interviews were taken mainly at Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth Jetty
(landing place).
Some fishermen were found to be uninterested in questionnaires and complained
that they had given such types of interviews many times without any result.
Nearly every fishermen raised the problem of water and electricity, although this
pretesting of the question is necessary, but they requested to include it as a special note.
RESULTSAND DISCUSSION
In both of the villages, Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri goth, 97.5% of the boats were
found with engines (Table 1). This is similar to Khan’s (1986) results, who reported that,
out of 4355 boats, 93.5% had engines. out of the 118 boats surveyed in the present study,
19.3% had inboard engines (Table 2), which is inconsistent with that of Khan (1986)
who reported 32.7% boats in this category. This difference may be due to different study
areas. Khan (1986) conducted his study on the Sindh coast, including Karachi Fish
Harbour, while this study was restricted to Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth. Karachi Fish
Harbour has the largest fishing fleet with inboard engines (Van Zalinge et al. 1987).
Table 1. Percentage distribution of boats with engine at Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri
Goth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Engine Number of boats % of boats
_______________________________________________________________________
Boats with Engine 115 97.5
Boats without Engine 3 2.5
_______________________________________________________________________
Total 118 100
_______________________________________________________________________
Table 2. Type of Engine of boats at Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Type of Engine Number of Engines %
_______________________________________________________________________
Outboard 94 81.7
Inboard 21 18.3
_______________________________________________________________________
Total 115 100
_______________________________________________________________________
The number of fishermen differs from one boat category to the other. The maximum,
39 fishermen, were carried by medium sized boats (Table 3). The fishermen of large
boats work more (22 working days per month) compared to the fishermen working in
small and medium sized boats (Table 4). Average working time per day in all the three
kinds of boats is more or less the same (Table 5).
36 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol. 10(1), 2001.
Table 3. Average number of fishermen/trip at Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Boat category Average Minimum Maximum
_______________________________________________________________________
Small 5-6 3 12
Medium 32-33 20 39
Large 16-17 8 23
_______________________________________________________________________
Table 4. Average number of working days of fishermen at Ibrahim Hyderi and
Rehri Goth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Boat category Average Minimum Maximum
_______________________________________________________________________
Small 16.7 10 24
Medium 18.7 12 24
Large 21.52 15 25
_______________________________________________________________________
Table 5. Average working time/day (hours) of fishermen at Ibrahim Hyderi and
Rehri Goth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Boat category Average Minimum Maximum
_______________________________________________________________________
Small 11 6 12
Medium 9.6 6 13
Large 11.24 6 18
_______________________________________________________________________
Table 6. Type of nets used by fishermen of Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Type of nets Number of nets %
_______________________________________________________________________
Thukri 56 47.4
Gujja 19 16.1
Qatra 18 15.2
Rach Lara + Thukri 17 14.4
Thukri + Cast net 4 3.3
Thukri + Dhuk 1 0.8
Thukri + Gujjo 1 0.8
Rach Lara + Thukri 1 0.8
Dhuk 1 0.8
_______________________________________________________________________
Total 118 100
_______________________________________________________________________
Hasan et al.: Socio-Economic Study in two villages at Sindh coast 37
The present study shows that three kinds of nets are used quite frequently at Ibrahim
Hyderi Goth. The most common nets found were Thukri (47.4%), Gujja (16.1%), and
Qatara (15.2) (Table 6), which are in accordance with data obtained by IUCN (1992). In
reply to a question on where these fishermen of Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth prefer to
fish, they pointed out 11 different localities (Table 7). It is obvious that these fishermen
prefer to fish in nearby creeks and do not go far from the villages. The fishing places
which are situated far from Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth are mostly preferred by large
sized boats.
Table 7. Percentage distribution of fishermen of Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth
by place of fishing.
_______________________________________________________________________
Place of fishing Number of fishermen %
_______________________________________________________________________
Phitti 26 22.0
Ghora Bari 17 14.1
Pitiani 14 11.9
Khuddi + Khai + Pitiani 6 5.1
Khudi 5 4.2
Khuddi + Khai 5 4.2
Khudi + Khai + Dhabbo 5 4.2
Keti Bunder 3 2.5
Sir Creek 3 2.5
Pitiani + Dhabbo + Khai 2 1.7
Pitiani + Chan + Turshan + Gora Bari 2 1.7
Khudi + Chan 2 1.7
Hajmara 2 1.7
Dhabbo 1 0.8
Dhabo + Turshan 1 0.8
Pitiani + Dhabbo 1 0.8
Dhabbo + Chan 1 0.8
Dhabbo + Khuddi + Chan 1 0.8
Turshan 1 0.8
Other places 19 16.1
No idea 1 0.8
_______________________________________________________________________
Total 118 100
_______________________________________________________________________
According to the present study, 57.6% of the fishermen sell their commodity to the
local market (Table 8). The main factors which motivated them were payment in time,
transport and advance payment (Table 9). They sell their commodity in local market to
avoid transport expenditure. At Ibrahim Hyderi, the market is governed by middlemen
having a monopoly (IUCN 1992) and 42% (Table 8) of the fishermen sell their
commodity to them. Here again the most important factor is payment in time, but the
38 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol. 10(1), 2001.
second major factor is advance payment (Table 10). According to IUCN (1992), 67% of
the 52 boat owners had obtained loans within the past 3 to 11 years. This shows that the
loan system is an essential part of the system, and nearly every man, even the boat
owner, is involved in such activities. The reason might be slack season and low catches
of shrimps. As the system of providing loans is an integral part of the society at Ibrahim
Hyderi and Rehri Goth. Therefore, the fishermen were found uncertain about the price
because they are bound to sell their commodity to the middlemen at a price lower than
the market price. According to IUCN (1992) survey most of the fishermen always need
another loan before the previous one is repaid.
Table 8. Percentage distribution of fishermen at Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth
by selling fish and shrimps.
_______________________________________________________________________
Place Number of fishermen %
_______________________________________________________________________
Market 68 57.6
Middleman 49 41.5
Household 1 0.8
_______________________________________________________________________
Total 118 100
_______________________________________________________________________
Table 9. Factors involved in selling fish and shrimp to local market at Ibrahim
Hyderi and Rehri Goth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Factors Number of answers %
_______________________________________________________________________
Payment in time 22 32.3
Transport 13 19.1
Advance 9 13.2
Payment in time + Transport 9 13.2
Payment in time + Reasonable price 6 8.8
Advance + Reasonable price 6 8.8
Payment in time + Advance 2 2.9
Reasonable Price 1 1.5
_______________________________________________________________________
Total 68 100
_______________________________________________________________________
According to the present study, a good number of the fishermen of Ibrahim Hyderi
and Rehri Goth use mangroves for their livestock (Table 11). They also use mangrove
wood as a fuelwood and a kind thatching material quite frequently (Table 12). According
to the present study 84.1% of the fishermen were using mangroves as a fuelwood. These
results are consistent with IUCN (1987), who have reported 82.75% of fishermen using
mangrove wood.
Hasan et al.: Socio-Economic Study in two villages at Sindh coast 39
Table 10. Factors involved in selling fish and shrimp to middlemen at Ibrahim
Hyderi and Rehri Goth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Factors Number of answers %
_______________________________________________________________________
Payment in time 20 40.8
Advance 17 34.7
Payment in time + Transport 5 10.2
Transport 4 8.2
Payment in time + Reasonable price 2 4.1
Payment in time + Advance 1 2.0
_______________________________________________________________________
Total 49 100
_______________________________________________________________________
Table 11. Fishermen at Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth as a livestock owner.
_______________________________________________________________________
Fishermen as a Number of answers %
livestock owner
_______________________________________________________________________
Having Livestock 48 40.7
Not having livestock 70 59.3
_______________________________________________________________________
Total 118 100
_______________________________________________________________________
Table 12. Uses of mangroves by fishermen of Ibrahim Hyderi and Rehri Goth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Uses of mangroves Frequencies %
_______________________________________________________________________
Fuelwood 94 79.7
Fuelwood + Thatching 6 5.1
Not used mangroves 18 15.3
_______________________________________________________________________
Total 118 100
_______________________________________________________________________
Due to the extensive use of mangroves as a fuelwood and fodder, and their slow rate
of growth, the mangrove forests have disappeared from some parts of South Asia
(Linden and Jenelov 1980). In Pakistan the signs of overexploitation of mangrove forests
are very obvious. Due to the overexploitation, the mangrove trees have converted into
small bushes (Personal observations, Meynell and Qureshi 1992). The long term
40 Pakistan Journal of Marine Sciences, Vol. 10(1), 2001.
exploitation may result into extermination of this ecosystem which will ultimately effect
the offshore fisheries. This situation will produce a negative effect on the population
subsisting on mangrove environment.
REFERENCES
Arif, H. and A. Ali, 1991. Pakistan chapter of sap’s Regional Environment study for
south Asia.
IUCN, 1987. Socio-economic and health survey of Korangi-Phitti Creek near Karachi,
Preliminary report IUCN, Karachi, Pakistan. Pp. 50.
IUCN, 1992. Social survey of Korangi-Phitti creek near Karachi, Pakistan. A survey
report IUCN, Karachi, Pakistan. Pp. 77.
Khan, M.Y. 1986. Fishing techniques in coastal waters of Pakistan. In: Proc. National
seminar on fisheries policy and planning, 21-23 September 1986, Karachi, Pakistan.
Pp. 345-364.
Linden, O. and A. Jenelov, 1980. The mangrove swamps-an ecosystem in danger
AMIBIO. 9(2): 81-88.
Meynell, P.J. and M.T. Qureshi, 1992. Sustainable management of mangroves in the
Indus Delta. The Korangi Ecosystem project. Korangi issue paper 3. Coastal
Ecosystem Unit, IUCN, Karachi, Pakistan.
Van Zalinge, N.P., M. Khaliluddin and W. Khan. 1987. Description of shrimp fishery
including a stratified sampling scheme for shrimp landings and effort at Karachi
Fish Harbour. FAO, Rome. FI:DP/PAK/033/7. Pp. 73.
(Received: 22 March, 2000)
Hasan et al.: Socio-Economic Study in two villages at Sindh coast 41


Socio-economic study in two areas on the coast of Sindh, Pakistan

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Socio-economic study in two areas on the coast of Sindh, Pakistan

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