Pakistan’s first National Plan of Action for shark conservation comes with a warning that should affect the finance ministry as much as the fisheries department. Shark landings in Pakistani waters have fallen by more than 85 per cent over the past five decades. The 10-year plan announced on Tuesday proposes controls on finning and bycatch, protection for vulnerable species, shark sanctuaries, mangrove restoration, stock assessments and vessel monitoring.
Islamabad is making large promises about the sea economy. Seafood exports reached a record $568 million in FY2025-26. Fisheries, ports, shipping, ship recycling, aquaculture, coastal tourism and offshore energy now populate the government’s blue-economy plans. The finance ministry puts the maritime sector’s present contribution at barely 0.4 per cent of the GDP, while endorsing an ambition to turn it into a $100 billion economy by 2047.
There are few economic frontiers in Pakistan with such obvious room for growth. There are also few where bad accounting could do more damage. Those standing at the wheel need to realise that the sea does not become richer because more is taken from it.
That should change the way Pakistan thinks about fisheries exports. The objective cannot simply be more tonnes. A serious fisheries economy earns more from what it catches through processing, refrigeration, traceability, certification and access to higher-value markets. Pakistan should be asking itself why a country with more than 1,000 kilometres of coastline remains such a modest seafood exporter, not how quickly it can put more boats into already pressured waters.
Mangroves make the same case from the shore. Our mangrove ecosystems hold an estimated 19.8 million tonnes of organic carbon. They also provide breeding habitat, reduce erosion and absorb some of the force of storms and coastal flooding. The World Bank has warned that, without adequate adaptation, around one million Pakistanis could be exposed to coastal flooding annually between 2070 and 2100.
That is why the shark plan will earn its keep. Stock assessments, vessel monitoring, landing-site data and controls on bycatch may not carry the glamour of new ports or billion-dollar maritime projections, but without them the blue economy risks becoming another exercise in spending ecological capital while booking the proceeds as growth.
