THATTA: Fishermen dra­g­ged ashore a 20-foot whale shark, a protected species under national and international rules and conventions, after the ‘gentle giant’ got entrapped in their net while fishing in Hajamro creek in Arabian Sea near Thatta coastline early on Friday morning.

Eyewitnesses said the fish, locally called “Andhi Munghar”, which weighed about 20 tonnes was transported to Karachi soon after it landed ashore where it would be cut up into pieces and used in fish and animal feed.

Mohammad Moazzam Khan, marine expert and technical adviser to WWF, told this reporter that the whale shark which was also called “gentle giant” among fishermen communities owing to its docile and harm­less nature was a protected species and its hunting, marketing and landing was prohibited under natio­nal fisheries rules and its export was also not allowed under the relevant rules.

Besides, it was mostly of little value to fishermen because its flesh was not eaten and was only used as poultry feed while its liver oil was used for polishing base of wooden fishing boats, he said.

The fish survived in adjoining deltaic waters on smaller fish and shrimp and the only harm it could cause to fishermen was when it collided accidentally underwater with small-sized boats, he said.

Mr Khan said the fish’s population had greatly declined because of its unchecked hunting since 1850 to 1970 when it was frequently hunted mostly thro­ugh traditional harpoons in Pakistan’s oceanic waters. Since 2013, Pakis­tani fishermen have captured and released some 73 whale sharks.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2018