May 21, 2005 

The EU to ban all Pakistani seafood

The EU has taken steps that would effectively ban all seafood exports from Pakistan to its member countries and eventually lead to a loss of 60 percent in total seafood exports from the country.

In February this year, the EU's Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) sent a team to Karachi to inspect seafood production quality and fisheries facilities and installations at the Karachi and Korangi fish harbours.

Many concerns were raised by the team at the end of their visit and this prompted the Pakistani government to impose a ban on its own seafood exports for the last two months till the standards were sufficiently improved.

However, during this period of the self imposed ban, the Pakistani government has failed to come up with solid programmes that would lead to the elimination of any EU concerns with its seafood exports. Rs 15 million was allocated for development projects at the Karachi Fish Harbour, but nothing has materialised during the last two months.

The future looks uncertain for Pakistani seafood exporters who have already lost around US$15 million during the two months self-imposed ban.