Trout fish production has been severely damaged by the recent floods which wreaked havoc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the outskirts. Hatcheries washed away due to the catastrophic floods and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be facing a severe shortage of fish production, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Wednesday.

According to the preliminary report of the fisheries department, the fishing sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was completely destroyed and Chitral, Upper Dir, Swat, Shangla Kohistan, and Mansehra incurred huge losses due to the unprecedented floods in the province, further leaving dozens of people unemployed and destitute.

In the report, it was also mentioned that 318 public and private hatcheries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including fourt hatcheries in the Chitral district, 21 in Upper Dir, 252 in Swat, 10 in Shangla, nine in Kohistan, and 26 in Mansehra were swept away by the floods.  

Due to the destruction of 318 hatcheries in the province, the national exchequer lost 1820 million rupees, as per the preliminary report.

Furthermore, sources reported that a hatchery produces 2500 kg of fish in 14 months and the price of fish per kg is fixed at 2500 rupees. The estimation of damaged hatcheries is highest in Charsadda, Nowshera, Tank, and DI Khan, and it will take two to three years to restore the damaged hatcheries.

On the other hand, the Director of the Fisheries department Dr. Khusro Kalim said, “Floods have caused a lot of damage across the province and the government is taking measures to compensate for the loss incurred to the hatcheries.”

Reporter: Amir Shehzad