KARACHI: A recent four-day diving expedition undertaken to evaluate the environmental conditions of Astola Island in Balochistan found “amazing wildlife and a very healthy and productive marine ecosystem”.

The team didn’t find any evidence of coral bleaching as has recently been noticed around the Churna Island.

According to a World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) statement released on Tuesday, the Indus scuba divers led by S.H. Momin Zaidi undertook surveys at important diving sites along Astola Island — a Marine Protected Area — and found coral and associated habitats teeming with marine life including important fish, such as barracuda, trevallies, hot-lips as well lobsters, fan-worm, sea urchins and soft corals.

The team also dived to a shipwreck located about 4km off Astola Island, which was also found to have rich marine life.

Several green turtles were seen nesting on the island’s beaches and juvenile turtles hatching and returning to the sea.

Commenting on the team’s findings, Muhammad Moazzam Khan, technical advisor on marine fisheries at WWF-P, said Astola Island was known to be rich in marine biodiversity and once had the largest nesting ground of the great-crested tern globally.

“However, due to the introduction of feral cats and rats, nesting colonies have dwindled in the past few decades. The island is also an important fishing ground for fishermen based in Pasni and other coastal areas of Balochistan, besides being a nesting area of green turtles.”

The existence of healthy corals and associated habitat around the island, he pointed out, was much to do with negligible industrial activities in the vicinity.

“This can also be attributed to the declaration of the island as a Marine Protected Area in June 2017. This declaration aimed to help conserve biodiversity of the area, ban illegal fishing and regulate sustainable recreational activities.”

According to WWF-P studies, the first one conducted in 1995, Astola Island is a hotspot of biodiversity, diverse terrestrial flora and fauna.

The island is home to an endemic saw scaled viper (Echis sochureki astolae), carpet viper and cliff racer. This is in addition to nine species of sea snakes which inhabit the subtidal habitats around the island. The island is reported to be inhabited by two agama lizards namely skink and long-tailed desert lizard.

The island is known for a well-diversified bird fauna consisting of 19 terrestrial and 87 aquatic birds occurring on the island.

The organisation has reported 82 species of terrestrial plants from the island. The island harbours rich marine animals, including 23 species of hard coral and a number of soft corals.

Moreover, 156 species of associated fish are found in coral habitat including a large number of invertebrates. The island is also rich in commercially important fish and shellfish species, a source of livelihood for coastal communities of the area.

The Arabian humpback whale, which is considered to be one of the rarest marine mammals, is also occasionally reported from the surrounding area. The protected, threatened and endangered species such as crustaceans, sharks, whales, whale sharks, guitarfish and mobulids have been reported from the island.

According to experts, coral habitats harbour the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem globally and directly support over 500 million people worldwide, mostly in poor countries. But, they are also the most threatened ecosystems on earth, largely due to unprecedented global warming and climate change.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2020