KARACHI:
For generations, the lives of Sindh’s coastal fishing communities have been tied to the ebb and flow of the Indus River. But as the river’s flow towards the southern districts dwindles, seawater has crept inland, swallowing fertile land and forcing thousands of families to abandon their ancestral homes.
Yasmeen Shah, central leader of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, said the crisis is not new. “Seawater erosion was first reported in 1950. Since then, around 3.5 million acres of land have been claimed by the sea. Entire fishing villages have disappeared, leaving families with no choice but to migrate to Karachi and other cities in search of survival,” she told The Express Tribune.
The fallout has been devastating. According to Shah, successive governments have failed to protect the rights of small-scale fishermen. “The Sindh government’s policies have only strengthened the exploitative contract system in fisheries. Poor fishermen are pushed deeper into poverty, with no social security or safety net. Now, the federal government’s new fisheries policy appears designed to serve large corporations rather than safeguard local communities,” she added.
Naseer Memon, a disaster management and resettlement expert, traced the roots of the crisis back to the construction of dams upstream. Before the Tarbela Dam was built, he explained, as much as 300,000 cusecs of water flowed annually into Sindh’s kutcha areas swelling to 500,000 cusecs every few years. Today, he said, the situation is starkly different.
“In 2022, an unusually large flow from Kotri Barrage rushed into the sea, but much of that wasn’t river water it was floodwater from Manchar Lake’s collapse. Pakistan’s water storage needs are massive, with projects like Bhasha Dam, Mohmand Dam, and Kachchi Canal requiring at least 12 million acre-feet. Yet, lower Sindh continues to suffer,” Memon noted.
He stressed that the Indus must travel 300 miles after Kotri Barrage before reaching the sea, passing through Thatta, Sajawal, and Badin home to two million people. “Do these communities not deserve water? Diverting flows to new canals would mean robbing them of their basic right to drinking water,” he warned.
Experts argue that saving the Indus Delta requires at least 5,000 cusecs of water daily or 25 million acre-feet over five years to pass below Kotri. But except during monsoon floods, this threshold is rarely met. The result has been relentless seawater intrusion, submerging some 500,000 hectares of fertile farmland in Sindh’s coastal belt.
Amid this crisis, voices within the fishing community are calling for urgent reforms. Fatima Majeed, the newly elected chairperson of the Fishermen Cooperative Society, pledged to prioritise welfare schemes. “Our fishermen have suffered for too long. We will focus on creating employment opportunities, initiating welfare projects, and boosting fish exports to ensure sustainable livelihoods,” she said.
Despite repeated attempts, The Express Tribune was unable to obtain a response from Sindh’s Director General of Fisheries, Siraj Ahmed Solangi, regarding government measures to address the worsening plight of the fishing community.
