PAKISTAN: Where floods bring hope

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KARACHI, 22 September 2010 ( IRIN) - While some 20 million people have been affected by the floods in Pakistan since July and more are still being displaced in the southern province of Sindh, one group of people are looking on the bright side. � Fishermen at Manchar Lake in Dadu District, Sindh Province, the country's largest freshwater lake, hope the inflow of water from the River Indus will ease contamination [ http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/mckinney/ce397/Topics/Indus/Indus_Manchar_Lake_2010_Slides.pdf] caused by the discharge of factory effluent in recent years. � "This fresh water will bring in fish. There is a real reason to be happy - though of course the floods are a tragedy for people across Sindh, and this is not something any of us can forget," said Abdullah Deenu, 50, a fisherman. Overflows from Manchar have resulted in the flooding of 250 nearby villages, according to local media reports [ http://tribune.com.pk/story/49666/fresh-flood-warnings-as-water-level-in-sutlej-rises/ ] and pose a threat to everyone in the area. Most of the 100,000 people from the town of Bhan Saeedabad have left for safer locations. About 35,000 residents from Sehwan sub-district are reported to be camping in the open [ http://thenews.com.pk/21-09-2010/ethenews/t-747.htm ] along roads, while 15,000 have been stranded in villages. The dangerously high water levels at the lake pose a threat to 15,000-20,000 fishermen operating there, according to Sami Memon, spokesman for the Pakistan Fisherfolks Forum, a Karachi-based organization representing fishing communities. "Things are not safe at Manchar right now and the fishing villages are flooded," Memon told IRIN. However, he believed the flow of fresh water from the Indus into the lake will bring in new stocks of fish. "The floods have destroyed many fish farms across Sindh and washed their stocks into Manchar. So there will be more fish there," said Memon. However, he pointed out that the overflow from Manchar was also "unwelcome" in that it took fish back into the Indus. Species loss Concern about environmental degradation at Manchar [ http://www.dawnnews.net/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/in-paper-magazine/magazine/life-on-the-lake ] and the consequent loss of fish has been high for some years, with many species once found in the lake vanishing due to pollution. � Thousands of fishermen have been moving away from Manchar [ http://www.thenews.com.pk/10-09-2010/karachi/3967.htm ] because it could no longer provide a livelihood. "I am sad to be away from Manchar, but we had no choice," Ghulam Mallah, 40, a fisherman who moved away three years ago and now fishes off the Karachi coast, told IRIN. He said despite the hardship caused by floods, fresh water in the lake would be received "with open arms" by many who still fished on the lake. "The current flood will help rejuvenate the lake eco-system and reduce contamination at least for a short period," Naseer Memon, an environmentalist and head of the NGO Strengthening Participatory Organization, told IRIN. Fishermen based in villages around Manchar are hoping that once the floods recede and they can return, they will find new species of fish and reduced levels of pollution in the lake. "Even if it just lasts a short while at least it would give us hope," said Abdullah Deenu. kh/at/cb © IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org