RECORDER REPORT
KARACHI: Fishermen returned a 7.5 feet long juvenile whale shark to the sea following its trapping into a net near to Balochistan’s island on Thursday, Aug 17.
The fortunate young shark found its release through a coordinated effort of a fishing boat crew and its captain, Ali Akbar, operating some two kilometres north of Churna Island, the WWF-Pakistan said on Friday, adding that it has trained the fishermen to rescue the marine species.
“This is not the first time that a whale shark was rescued by fishermen; however, their pups seldom survive during the entanglement or die even in the rescue process. According to Ali Akbar, the baby whale shark was entangled in the net placed for catching tuna in the waters,” it said.
Muhammad Moazzam Khan, Technical Advisor (Marine Fisheries) at WWF-Pakistan, a healthy population of whale sharks is reported from Pakistan coast. “Fishing season for tuna which started from 1 August 2017, brought forth the good news of safe release of Indo-Pacific finless porpoise earlier this month whereas rescue of juvenile whale shark is another feather in the cap,” he added.
He said that awareness and training programme initiated by the WWF-Pakistan five year ago to have resulted in a protection of the species and now hardly any whale shark dies from entanglement in the fishing gears.
“Whale shark is considered as endangered according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list whereas it is included in Appendix-II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and has been proposed to be included in Appendix-I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). It is also covered under other international instruments including Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) of which Pakistan is a member,” he said.
According to Moazzam Khan, the population of whale shark in Pakistani waters seems stable. However, it is extremely prone to a frequent entanglement in fishing gears coupled with perils of habitat degradation and marine pollution.
He said that Churna Island, which is being considered to be declared as a marine protected area (MPA) by Government of Balochistan, is an important basking, feeding and breeding area for this species. “Two neonate whale sharks reported from Balochistan coast in 2008 confirm the breeding of whale shark in the area,” he said.
Rab Nawaz, Senior Director Programmes at WWF-Pakistan lauded the role Sindh and Balochistan Fisheries Departments who proactively legislated for protection of whale sharks in 2016. He said that this established a basis for taking action against the fishermen who deliberately catch whale shark or try to market it.
He also informed that earlier in 2012 and 2013 when two whale sharks were deliberately killed by fishermen, the incidences received extensive media coverage that developed the interest of other fishermen to target this species. However, now with legislation in place the whale shark fishing is stopped altogether in both provinces.
Rab also pointed out that since 2012 fishermen have safely released a large number of endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species which includes 61 whale sharks, 45 mobulids, 25 sunfish, 6 dolphins, 5 whales, 25 sea snakes, 5 masked boobies (seabirds) and thousands of marine turtles. ‘On occasion of International Whale Shark Day which is observed on 30 August, the release of a juvenile whale shark in Pakistani waters will send a good message to the world’, he added.
Ever since the start of Observer Programme of WWF-Pakistan in October 2012, a total of 61 cases of whale sharks have been documented.
