Approximately 90% of the fish consumed in Pakistan is contaminated, putrefied, and unfit for human consumption, a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) official claimed.
Muhammad Moazzam Khan, WWF’s technical adviser on marine fisheries and former director general of the marine fisheries department, shared the assessment at a seminar titled ‘Blue Economy: An Avenue for Development in Pakistan’ held at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs.
Khan insisted that the large percentage of fish sold in shops and on roadside carts were unfit for human consumption. The speakers at the seminar shed light on various aspects of Pakistan’s blue economy, challenges it faces, marine fisheries issues, and the socioeconomic uplift of coastal communities.
“Fish are very delicate protein items and putrefy very quickly if not iced or frozen as soon as possible,” Khan explained. “Fish are usually kept at room temperature and sometimes at above 40 degrees Celsius and vendors sprinkle water on them to make them look fresher and keep them from decaying. But they have already become unfit for consumption, yet people buy and consequently, fall sick.”
He suggested that fish be stored between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius to prevent them from rotting. The WWF representative pointed out Pakistan exported around 10 percent of the produce and the rest was degraded or damaged as most boats lacked proper deep freezers and other facilities to store the catch.