A STONE with nail-like sharp edges lying 20-60 feet beneath the sea around Churna Island — locally called ‘kumcha’ — has been one of the annoying issues that fishermen curse as an enemy which often traps and tears apart their fishing nets.

These ‘kumcha’ stones, when put into scientific jargon, actually refer to corals scattered across the core zone of Churna Island, a highly sensitive area in terms of biodiversity importance demarcated by the managing authorities around a marine protected area (MPA).

Churna is Pakistan’s second biodiversity hotspot which was declared an MPA in 2025.

Rising global temperatures have put areas in oceans harbouring a rich biodiversity under immense stress, and destructive human activities have made the situation worse, warranting due action to protect them.

Measured by any yardstick, ‘kumcha’, a Balochi term, has traditionally linked the corals to a foe that hampers fishing activities carried out by the local fishermen.

This has long shrouded the significance attached to the corals, enabling an enriched biodiversity sustaining a host of fish species that in turn bolster livelihoods for the local community.

However, declaring MPAs and demarking core and buffer zones — merely on maps — to curtail destructive human activities and safeguard biodiversity hotspots without effective community engagement remain a futile endeavour, hindering success in sustaining the protections mandated under the relevant MPA management plans.

Given this crucial aspect, lack of community engagement, led by a severe absence of basic understanding among community members about MPAs and the essential species inhabiting the areas, can stymie Pakistan’s efforts in managing these biodiversity-enriched areas.

Locals and the protected areas

All the three of Pakistan’s MPAs are located on the coast running along Balochistan, a province that trails other provinces in terms literacy and development.

This adds another daunting layer to the sustainable management of these areas.

The three MPAs differ from each other in terms of biodiversity that lies beneath the waters or around them, thus needing different approaches in management.

Astola Island has both terrestrial and oceanic importance as it harbours a host of coral species and has been home to a vast majority of avian population, both migratory and local.

Churna, on the other hand, has a thriving species of corals and fish, and a small reef formation, adding more value to its biodiversity significance.

Finally, Miani Hor lagoon is home to rare oceanic mammals, birds and mangrove forest — comprising three mangrove species: Avicennia marina, Rhizophora mucronata and Ceriops tagal, the latter two being extinct elsewhere in Pakistan.

We need to somehow make our marine conservation endeavours succeed, writes Ayaz Khan

Both Churna and Miani Hor have local populations inhabiting around them, thus making community-led initiatives inevitable to cope with entrenched issues, such as destructive fishing and harm to important coral colonies.

What makes a community-led approach more pressing is the lax policy-making process, as it took the country more or less eight years to enact a feasible management plan for Astola Island.

If an honest estimation is put forth, it may take another decade, if not decades, for the country to bring in management plans for managing the two other MPAs.

Since the country is slow to come up with management plans, an effective way forward is to hand over responsibilities — as deemed appropriate in the context of each MPA — to the local communities.

Marine conservation

It is a globally established phenomenon that declaring MPAs gives birth to apprehensions among local communities relying on inshore or offshore marine areas for their livelihoods. And, MPAs in Pakistan are no exception on this count.

However, Pakistani fishermen, to begin with, are completely divorced from the term MPA, and even if they do have some inkling of the initiative, their apprehensions quadruple regarding the restrictions that are to be imposed after conservation of biodiversity in the protected areas begins.

Moreover, they see in the effort a move to deprive them of their ownership of the area that they have been historically privileged to.

To fill this vacuum and to address the concerns among the local populations, the concept of locally led marine conservation remains a vital approach to the phenomenon.

The core element in this phenomenon is the handing over of conservation responsibilities to the local populations.

In the context of MPAs along the coastal belt of Balochistan, community-based awareness campaigns are the cornerstone to build an informed group of local people having an equal participation of women.

This includes educating the group through instilling basic knowledge among the individuals by connecting scientific importance to traditional and indigenous knowledge about the thriving species of corals or mangroves, including fish.

For instance, instead of educating them about what corals are, they should be told what ‘kumcha’ is and what scientific name and importance it carries, further informing them how to disentangle the nets once they get stuck around corals instead of destroying the entire colony; a practice the fishermen often indulge in to get their nets disentangled.

The group then should pass this knowledge gradually to the community at large.

Once the snowball effect takes momentum, they should be educated on core zones (no-take) and buffer zones (partially allowed for human activities), as this increases fish catch they solely rely on for livelihoods.

Pakistan can take cue from Kenya’s Kuruwitu community members who remained concerned about growing degradation of their seas before they formed the Kuruwitu Conservation and Welfare Association (KCWA) in 2003.

In 2005, the KCWA members decided to set aside 30 hectares of marine area for conservation, and in a span of just 12 years, the community witnessed a remarkable increase in their fish catch.

Today, the members of the Kuruwitu community mingle with other coastal communities to share their knowledge and experience.

Such groups can be invited to join local populations in Pakistan to enhance the understanding of the locally led marine conservation efforts.

Pakistan already has a co-management method in place to manage protected areas: a joint move that includes local people, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government representatives.

Instead of having more work on paper rather than on the ground, Pakistan needs to climb down the paperwork ladder if it truly needs its marine conservation endeavours succeed.

This would translate into a win-win situation for both biodiversity conservation and the people relying on them to sustain their lives.

The writer is member of staff covering oceans in Pakistan and across South Asia.