KARACHI: A 20-foot-long whale shark, a protected species, was caught by fishermen at sea and later sold in Ibrahim Hyderi.

Hunting, marketing and trade of whale sharks -- the largest fish species alive in the world today -- is banned under the Sindh and Balochistan fisheries laws.

“It’s extremely sad that fishermen killed it. They should be punished under the law,” said Mohammad Moazzam Khan, technical adviser on marine resources at World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan, while emphasising the need for creating awareness among fishermen about the importance of the fish.

Fishermen in Ibrahim Hyderi, however, claimed that the fish incidentally got entangled in the net and died.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2022