Future of the fish: WWF-P sails into Pakistan’s marine potential

President WWF-Pakistan Khalid Mahmood addressing a press conference on the cruise. PHOTO: COURTESY WWF-PAKISTAN FACEBOOK PAGE

KARACHI:  To highlight the exceptional marine ecology of the region, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) carried out a sailing voyage from Dubai to Karachi from February 19 to February 26.

During the voyage, WWF-P recorded sightings of several rare species, including whale sharks, dolphins, turtles and other marine species. The journey was led by WWF-Pakistan president Khalid Mahmood and included a French sailor, Jaques Loubry, and Italian skipper, Edoardo Camillo Everardo.
“Our species are in danger and are decreasing due to illegal trawling, dumping of untreated sewerage in the sea and wide use of small mesh nets,” said Mahmood on Friday. He also said that during the last 20 years, fisheries’ resources have declined drastically and commercial fisheries’ catches have dwindled significantly over the years.

“Pakistan still has hope and needs to tap into the potential of fisheries,” Mahmood believed. He appreciated the efforts of the Pakistani government for encouraging small size fisheries and restricting foreign fishing vessels from harvesting in Pakistani waters. “The vessels, whether large or small, tend to dump their oil in the sea which can cause a harmful spike to the marine life’s mortality.”
According to Mahmood, nearly 350 million gallons of untreated waste water in Karachi is released into the sea daily. “Chances of survival of these marine species look slim and require immediate action,” he appealed.
Pakistan’s coastline is rich in biodiversity and has 17 different species of cetaceans including dolphins, whales and finless porpoise. Among them they were able to document five of the species.  The whale sharks are located in Pakistani, Omani and Iranian waters and are considered ‘gentle giants’.
“The fishing communities in Pakistan lack basic facilities and their lifestyle could only be improved by provision of these facilities,” said Everardo. Loubry also added that a fish stock survey is needed because rare fish species were disappearing from the Arabian Sea. He further said that one’s carbon footprint can only be reduced if appropriate measures are taken by all stakeholders.
Rab Nawaz, WWF-P regional director, highlighted that the organisation has already started an awareness campaign in coastal communities of Balochistan and Sindh to train and educate fishing communities who accidentally capture or kill marine life in their nets. As a result of the campaign, he said, a number of fishermen have released whale sharks, dolphins and turtles during the last few years.