Smuggling of tuna fish to Iran costs Pakistan at least USD 50 million a year as fisheries experts urge the government to regularize the illegal seafood trade with neighboring country to help costal communities' augment their income and lifestyle.
"Around 200 tons of tuna fish is being smuggled to Iran on a daily basis through Gwadar port of Balochistan," said Technical Advisor (Marine Fisheries) at WWF-Pakistan, Muhammad Moazzam Khan.
Iranian traders pay higher prices for tuna fish as compared to the seafood rates at the country's fisheries, he said, adding that the illegal trade has huge financial appeal for the local fishermen. According to the WWF-Pakistan's report on “Tuna Situation Analysis Pakistan 2012,” the small-scale tuna gillnet fishery in Pakistan is mainly dependent on the trade of low quality gillnet caught tuna with Iran in chilled form and its export in salted-dried form to Sri Lanka.
