A halt in landing of endangered and strange marine species at fish harbour is still not in sight for a lack of co-ordinated efforts by fisheries authorities to discourage the fishermen from unnecessary by-catch through big fines. “We are witnessing landing of endangered and strange fish and other marine species at the harbour because the authorities concerned assigned to ban landing of such species are not worried,” a fisheries official said on Saturday.
The last landed species at the fish harbour was a bramble shark with 1.6 metres length showed the authorities seriousness to disallow endangered species at fisheries, he said, adding that “once the authorities implement the ban the landing will reduce of such species”.
According to WWF-Pakistan the fishermen trapped bramble shark a couple of weeks back off Pakistan coast. Officials of Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) said, “it was not the authority’s responsibility to check landing of species”. They said the Fishermen Co-operative Society (FCS) and Marine Fisheries Department (MDC) are the main authorities to ban landing of endangered species at the harbour. “FCS is the management authority to check landing of catch and regularise auction hall affairs while MFD has to implement the rules on landing endangered species,” they said.
Several big sized shark species have been brought to the harbour during the last few years without any official checks on their landing, officials said, adding that the two concerned entities should look into matter seriously to protect the endangered marine life from a permanent extinction. “This species (bramble shark) is usually found in the offshore waters up to a depth of 900m. This weird looking shark is of rare occurrence in Pakistan and reported about 8 times in the past. It was first reported from Ormara, Balochistan in 1984 which was about 2.5m long caught with handline,” the WWF-Pakistan said.
