A Review of Kabul River Uses and Its Impact on Fish and Fishermen

Abstract

In this paper a detailed account of Kabul River has been given to highlight the socioeconomic
importance related to fish decline in Kabul River. Kabul River is a major river
of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. Its water is widely used for irrigation in Peshawar,
Nowshera and Charsadda Districts. At the same time it receives wastewater directly
from various industries situated in the mentioned district. This induction of waste water
has deteriorated water quality and adversely affected aquatic flora and fauna in which
fish is of major economic importance. This study shows that Kabul River enormously
contributes in economic prosperity but the deterioration of water quality hampers the
growth of fish population. On the whole there are nine species of fish, which are of
immense economic importance and whose population is sharply declined. Pollution
and over fishing are the two main causes of this decline. The collective contribution of
pollution and pesticides is above 60% while that of illegal fishing mainly through
electric current and dynamite is 25% and only 15% is due to legal fishing. Pollution and
illegal fishing are considered as the major threats to fish decline. Therefore, both
preventive and curative measures are recommended.