KARACHI: Fishermen operating off the coast of Balochistan have recently released two endangered sharks back into the sea after they got entangled in their fishing nets, the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) reported on Friday. The species were identified as whale sharks, the biggest fish and shark in the world.

“In the first instance, a Karachi-based tuna gillnetter captain Gul Hussain noticed an 18-foot long whale shark entangled in his net while he was operating about 45 km in the offshore waters of Ormara,” says Mohammad Moazzam Khan working as technical adviser on marine fisheries with WWF-P.

It took fishermen almost half an hour to release the fish after cutting a large part of their net, he added.

In the other incident, Hasnat Khan, another Karachi-based gillnetter who was fishing the same day and around the same time off Churna Island, found a 16-foot-long whale shark in his net.

“In both cases, fishermen had to lose their nets, which meant either they returned empty-handed to the shore or with catch much smaller in quantity than their expectations.

“But there was no regret in their conversation while they told us about the incidents. In fact, both fishermen sounded very happy for saving these harmless marine creatures. Gul has saved the whale shark for the third time,” Mr Khan added.

According to Mr Khan, the fishermen were part of the 50-member group that had received training from the organisation in releasing non-target marine species if they get accidentally caught in their fishing nets.

Since 2013, according to the WWF staff, 14 whale sharks, two mobula rays, two sunfishes, one Longman’s beaked whale, two bottlenose dolphins and thousands of marine turtles have been rescued.

“Release of the two whale sharks is a good omen for Pakistan’s fisheries as these gentle giants were previously used to be killed to extract their liver oil,” said senior director of biodiversity of WWF-P Rab Nawaz.

He pointed out that although whale sharks were not legally protected in Pakistan, fishermen now realised that they should not kill a marine mammal for just to extract its liver oil.

The organisation he said, was working in collaboration with fisheries and wildlife departments of Sindh and Balochistan to declare whale shark a protected species.

“The government should devise a policy to reduce gillnet fisheries in Pakistan, which is known for causing high bycatch especially of cetaceans and turtles. Many countries including Sri Lanka have converted a large number of their gillnet boats to longlining, which is considered comparatively much safer fishing gear against threatened species,” he explained.

Locally considered as critically endangered, the whale shark is listed as a ‘vulnerable’ species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to threats from commercial fishing. It is included in the appendix 2 of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Unlike whales, whale sharks are not mammals but belong to a group called Chondryichtyes, which include sharks, rays and skates. These fish have skeletons made entirely of cartilage in comparison to other fishes that have skeletons made of bones.

Whale sharks are filter feeders just like the blue whale (the largest living mammal on earth) and are so gentle that scuba divers seek them out to swim alongside with them.

The largest specimen so far recorded in the world was caught on Nov 11, 1947 off the Baba Island near Karachi. It was 12.65 metres (41.50ft), weighed more than 21.5 tonnes and had a girth of seven metres.

Historically there used to be an important whale shark fishery in Pakistan but fishery for whale shark stopped decades ago.

Though whale sharks are highly valued on international markets for their meat, fins and oil, the species is neither consumed locally nor exported. Fishermen, however, used to extract its liver oil for smearing hull of fishing boats to keep it water-proof. The meat is used for poultry meal.

“No major financial gain is linked to their catch. Fishermen had to kill them to save their nets. But, now with increasing awareness of its ecological importance, they have started saving them,” said Mr Khan.

Published in Dawn September 12th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play