RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Critically endangered sawfish is near to extinction from multiple threats like overfishing, habitat loss and curio trade, as calls are raised for conservation of the threatened species before it is too late.

Marking the International Sawfish Day on Wednesday, the WWF-Pakistan said the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species places the fish on endangered classification with a critical tag. It said there should be a joint effort to conserve magnificent aquatic vertebrate with a fear of the fish to be close to its obliteration for multiple threats.

The species is also placed in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix-I and enjoys protection under The Sindh and Balochistan Fisheries Laws since 2016. “Once abundantly found, sawfish species are now facing threat of extinction in Pakistan. Therefore, WWF-Pakistan urges taking necessary steps for the conservation of these majestic marine animals,” The WWF-Pakistan said.

Muhammad Moazzam Khan, Technical Advisor (Marine Fisheries), WWF-Pakistan said the magnificent marine species is close to its extinction globally with knife-tooth and large-comb sawfish are now being considered as locally extinct. “There was once a considerably large sawfish fishery in Pakistan and they were mainly found in Miani Hor (Sonmiani), Kalmat Khor, Jiwani, Gwadar and along the entire Indus Delta, particularly Khajar Creek,” he said.

He said sawfish population was declining rapidly throughout the world because of overfishing, entanglement in nets, fishing gear, habitat loss, and curio trade, adding that “they [species] also are also in demand for Chinese shark fin soup”. Saeed-ul-Islam, Coordinator Marine Programme, WWF-Pakistan said that some sawfish may still be left in their main habitats such as Indus creeks (Khajar Creek), Gwadar and Miani Hor.

“WWF-Pakistan, therefore, intends to conduct environmental DNA (eDNA) studies in these areas to confirm their presence. According to Islam, eDNA is the DNA an organism leaves behind as it moves through an environment which can be detected using modern techniques to confirm their presence. Once confirmed an area specific management plan will be developed for conservation of sawfish,” he said.

Three species of sawfish including knife-tooth (Anoxypristis cuspidatus), large-tooth (Pristis pristis) and large-comb (Pristis zijsron) have been reported from Pakistan. Sawfish, which are related to sharks, have a unique long, narrow, flattened rostrum, or nose extension, lined with sharp transverse teeth, arranged in a way that resembles a saw. There have been at least five records of large-tooth sawfish (Pristis pristis) from Pakistan in the last decade.

In May 2018, a 15-feet long giant female large-tooth sawfish was caught by a fisherman near Khajar Creek. Another specimen was caught from the same are a few years earlier in June 2013. Similarly, two specimens were caught in September 2009 and January 2016 from Sur, near Gwadar, Balochistan. In addition to fishing, habitat degradation is also an important factor that has resulted in the decline or possible local extinction of sawfish as local power plants and other industries are continuously being built in areas, such as Gwadar, where sawfishes were previously found.

A national or regional conservation action plan for the prevention of intentional killing, protection of habitat, minimization of bycatch, and ending illegal fin and rostrum trading must be developed. Since 2016, the governments of Sindh and Balochistan have already included sawfish in the list of species that cannot be fished, landed and marketed, the WWF-Pakistan said.