KARACHI, Dec 1: Sindh Wildlife Minister Ghulam Rasool Unar said on Saturday that sufficient water would be arranged for the various lakes and forests affected by water shortages.

Speaking to newsmen after a briefing held at the Sindh wildlife department, he said he had seen Haleji Lake at its peak many years back when hundreds of thousands of migratory birds used to visit this world-famous wildlife sanctuary.

“Now the water shortage has caused the lake to lose its charm both to men and waterfowl,” he said.

Talking about the fish stock, which is food for the migratory waterfowl in the sanctuary, he said many years back, while returning from his agricultural lands and passing the lake he had asked some fishermen to fetch him a few fish and within a few minutes three fish were caught, two of which were 16 kilograms each and the third one was eight kilograms. The weight and size of the fish spoke volumes about the protective measures adopted by the department staff.

The minister said the Deh Akro II wildlife sanctuary, situated among the sand dunes and which was a complex of 29 small lakes that sustained marsh crocodiles also, had also suffered owing to the water shortage.

The lake complex is fed by Jamrahu canal seepages, but some time back a new canal at a lower level had been constructed nearby to drain out the saline water from the area, and the drain was taking the water from the lakes whose condition had deteriorated.

The Pai Forest game reserve had also degraded owing to the water shortage and enhanced water supply would be ensured so that the forest could once again attract wildlife lovers and other visitors.

He said Tharparkar was once very rich in biodiversity but it had suffered over the years and now a project -- Conservation and Propagation of Biodiversity of Tharparkar – had been developed, and it was hoped that the natural resources and heritage like wildlife and plants would get better environment.

He said efforts would also be made to get the management plan of the Khirthar National Park approved so that this important cultural heritage site, also housing rare wildlife species of Sindh ibex, urial, etc, could be managed properly.

Mr Unnar said that efforts would be made to solve the problems of shortage of staff and overdue promotions – with many officials serving for over 20 years in the same grade – so that staff worked with peace of mind and could implement the protection laws.

Earlier, conservator Ghulam Rasool Channa, giving a briefing on the department’s activities, said the SWD manned 47 protected sites, including a national park, 33 wildlife sanctuaries and 13 game reserves.

He said that owing to better management and protection the number of highly rare species of Sindh Ibex and Urial, which were in their hundreds in the 1970s in Khirthar National Park, had increased and at present stood at over 13,000 and 10,000, respectively. The number of Indus dolphins, an endangered species, in the Dolphin Reserve, which stood at 499 in 1999 had risen to over 820 in 2006.

The SWD official said that out of the 19 Ramsar sites (the highest status in the wetland conservation) in the country, 10 – Haleji Lake, Keenjhar Lake , Drigh Lake, Hub Dam, Dolphin Reserve, Nurri Lagoon, Jubbo Lagoon, Run of Kutch, Indus Delta and Deh Akro II -- were in Sindh and played host to hundreds of thousands of migratory birds every year.

He said the department started its marine turtle conservation project in 1979 and so far more than 7,000 turtles had been tagged and 700,000 hatchlings released into the sea.

The department, with the assistance from the community, also introduced trophy hunting in the game reserve and in the past couple of years while on the one hand the protection of the wildlife had been enhanced with the community’s help, on the other, it had earned over $230,000, 80 per cent of which had been given to the community for its welfare projects, concluded Mr Channa. The briefing had started over an hour and 40 minutes behind schedule owing to the late arrival of the minister.