GWADAR: The Fisheries Department has intensified its crackdown on fishermen using illegal and banned fishing nets, inspecting boats at Padi-Zar Beach in the port city.

On the directives of Fisheries Marine Director Ahmed Nadeem and under the supervision of Fisheries Gwadar Assistant Director Shah Fahad, a fisheries monitoring team inspected the mesh sizes of nets being used on various boats and directed fishermen to refrain from using pro-hibited nets.

Sources said the mesh size of these nets is extremely small, measuring barely 10mm, allowing even juvenile fish to be caught. In recent years, some local fishermen have increasingly used harmful fishing gear, including fine plastic mesh nets, small-mesh nets, encircling nets and wire nets, locally known as gujja. These practices pose a serious threat to marine biodiversity and contribute to the depletion of fish stocks.

Behram Baloch