‘Life-changing catch’: Pakistani fishermen net half a million dollars worth of rare blackspotted croakers

KARACHI: A group of Pakistani fishermen in Sindh province netted over 200 valuable blackspotted croakers this week along the coastline of Thatta district, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) reported on Saturday, adding the catch fetched a staggering sum of impressive Rs140 million ($500,939).
Known locally as “Sua” in Sindhi, the blackspotted croaker is prized as a rare delicacy in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and Japan, celebrated for its exceptional taste and texture.
“Two days ago, a fishing boat belonging to Hanif Katiyar made an extraordinary catch of nearly 280 rare sua fish, which have been sold for Rs140 million,” Kamal Shah, PFF spokesperson, told Arab News.
He said the windfall would be shared among the 35 to 45 fishermen on board, with the boat’s owner receiving nearly half of the total sum.
“Even a small share of such a substantial sum is life changing for a fisherman,” he continued. “The days, sometimes weeks, of these poor fishermen are spent out at sea but yield only meager earnings to support their families.”
In a notable instance last November, Muhammad Juman, a 58-year-old boat captain, and his crew captured blackspotted croakers valued at Rs170 million ($599,783).
The high value of these fish is attributed to their medicinal properties, particularly the dried swim bladder, which, as Muhammad Moazam Khan, a technical adviser with the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), explained, acts as a speculative investment like gold.
“The dried swim bladder is sold at $20,000 to $80,000 per kilogram, which is why it is used as speculative investment,” he said. “In 2015, when its market went down, many in China who had invested in it committed suicide.”
He also noted that the population of these fish in Pakistani waters has dwindled by 95 percent, making such catches increasingly rare.