ISLAMABAD: The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Pakistan chapter on Tuesday said Pakistani seafood was “fit for human consumption,” clarifying reports that the organization’s official had claimed widespread fish contamination in the South Asian country. 

The WWF-Pakistan referred to media reports that suggested seafood in Pakistan was widely contaminated, saying these reports wrongly quoted a statement by Muhammad Moazzam Khan, a technical adviser with WWF-Pakistan, during a presentation on ‘Small Scale Fisheries and Blue Economy’ at the Pakistan Institute of International Affair on July 30. 

Khan pointed out that fish, a highly perishable commodity, being sold on carts and roadside shops was usually putrefied as it was kept without ice, instead of the required temperature of below 5 degrees Celsius, the Fund said. 

“Fish and shellfish of Pakistani origin are being adequately handled and preserved, are not contaminated with any hazardous material and are wholesome and fit for human consumption,” WWF-Pakistan said in its statement. 

It added that it was implementing a number of projects in which fishermen were trained to keep fish with ice in insulated containers so that its quality did not deteriorate. 

Pakistan has a 1,050-kilometer-long coastline stretching from the southern Sindh province to Balochistan in the country’s southwest. In 2021, official figures put the annual value of Pakistan’s fish exports at roughly $450 million. 

While the volume of seafood exports was increasing in Pakistan, Khan had said at the seminar the country was unable to grow its target due to a number of factors, including a lack of proper processing facilities.