KARACHI: The Indus canyon, a deep fissure located about 150 kilometres southeast of Karachi in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Pakistan, was declared a marine protected area on Saturday through a notification issued by the ministry of climate change.

With an area of 27,607 square kilometres, the Indus river canyon is the second marine protected area (MPA) in the country, after Astola Island, and the largest MPA in the Arabian Sea.

It has unique physical features, with sloping margins falling steeply to a depth of 1,800 metres and then entering the deep Arabian Sea basin. The area, home to a number of cetaceans, sharks, fish and different species of invertebrates, is known to be rich in biodiversity.

“By declaring the Indus canyon as protected, Pakistan has achieved compliance with Aichi Target 11, which requires conservation of at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas of a country,” Mohammad Moazzam Khan, technical adviser on marine fisheries with World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P), told Dawn.

‘Russian whaling fleets hunted 164 Arabian humpback whales in 1966 in this area’

Astola Island located 39km southeast of Pasni in Balochistan has an area of 400 square kilometres, he added.

According to Mr Khan, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which Pakistan is a signatory, requires nations under Article 2 to designate, regulate and manage geographically defined areas (protected areas) to achieve specific conservation objectives.

On the biodiversity of the Indus canyon, he said the area was rich in fishery resources. Nineteen species of cetaceans such as baleen whales, toothed whales and porpoises were known from the area. Some species, including rough toothed dolphin and striped dolphin, had been reported only from this area along Pakistan’s coast.

“The Longman’s beaked whale is also found here. This area was an important hunting ground for Russian whaling fleets, which hunted 164 Arabian humpback whales in 1966 in this area. Most of the hunted females were observed to be pregnant indicating that this area was an important breeding ground of these rare whales,” he said.

In addition, he said, this area was also an important feeding ground for these whales as most hunted whales contained sardines and pelagic shrimps in their stomachs; which indicated richness in productivity of the protected area.

Explaining how a protected status would contribute to conservation efforts, Dr Babar Khan, regional head of WWF-P Sindh and Balochistan, said that laws and regulations pertaining to the protected status would help conserve species whose population had drastically declined along Pakistan coast.

“It’s important to protect critical habitats providing multiple benefits to people and supporting their livelihood. The initiative is the first step towards this direction,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2018