KARACHI: A group of tuna fishermen while setting their nets in the offshore waters about 122 nautical miles off Khobar Creek observed a Longman’s beaked whale (Indopacetus pacificus) entangled in the gillnet recently.
The rescue operation was conducted by the crew on Al-Azaan boat under the supervision of captain Iqrar Mohammad, which successfully released the entangled whale after the struggle of 30 minutes.
The Longman’s beaked whale is regarded as one of the least known of all living whales. Until just a few years ago, this species was known only from two skulls.
There have been many sightings at widespread locations in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. The distribution is not fully known, but it appears to be limited to the Indo-Pacific region mostly from Somalia and South Africa, the Maldives, Kenya and Sri Lanka. There are no known records from Northern Arabian Sea. There is very little information available about the species because of its rare sighting. This is the first record from Pakistan, as well. What makes this sighting more remarkable is the successful release of a live animal possibly for the first time in history.
World Wide Fund (WWF) Pakistan has initiated a programme for conservation of endangered and protected marine animals and during past two and half years 15 whale sharks, 3 manta rays and 2 sunfishes have successfully been released. This is the first case in which WWF-Pakistan trained fishermen successfully released any whale. Rab Nawaz, Director; WWF-Pakistan has lauded the efforts of fishermen for saving unique and rare marine animals. Gillnets being used by fishermen for catching tuna are considered to be a very destructive gear, which is known for high incidences of mortality, especially in cetaceans. WWF-Pakistan has initiated a programme under which observers have been posted on tuna vessels since October 2012 and considerable information about bycatch species including turtles, sharks, dolphins, whale sharks and manta rays has been collected.
Commenting on this, Mr. Iqrar Muhammad, captain of the boat said that when they identified this endangered animal then the entire crew initiated the efforts to rescue it.
Pakistan to get $3b loan from Islamic Trade Financing Corporation
ISLAMABAD: Islamic Trade Financing Corporation (ITFC) to provide Pakistan with a $3 billion loan, according to an official statement released...
