Juvenile whale shark finds rare escape

A 3.5 meter long juvenile whale shark found a rare escape from the seafarers' fishing net on the country's seawaters off Ormara coast of Balochistan. Whale shark, scientifically known as Rhincodon typus, is among the world's endangered marine species and needs extra protection against hostile fishing.
Muhammad Ismail, captain of tuna gillnet fishing vessel Al-Saira, and his crewmembers accidentally trapped juvenile whale shark last Tuesday in their net close to Sapat off Ormara shoreline. Unlike previous such by-catch by fishermen, this time the seafarers fought hard to help the juvenile aquatic specie release itself from the trap.
According to the WWF-Pakistan officials, the whale shark struggled for about an hour to find a rare escape from the fishing net. They say the marine specie swam off the trap unhurt. Technical Advisor (Marine Fisheries) WWF-Pakistan, Muhammad Moazzam Khan, recalled that the fishermen used to hunt whale shark in large numbers for commercial purposes until 1960s. He expressed concerns that some fishermen still continued to kill the endanger specie for its commercially lucrative liver. The meat of whale shark was used for production poultry feed, he added.
"WWF-Pakistan has involved all major stakeholders to create awareness among the fishermen about the endangered species," he said. He lauded the captain and his crew for making efforts to release the juvenile shark whale. Pakistan is one of the signatory countries of CITES to protect wildlife against its over-exploitation and international trade. In line with the Convention, whale sharks fall in its Appendix-II of endangered marine species, requiring strict protection through a regulatory rule.
According to WWF-Pakistan, presence of whale sharks are occasionally reported but their exact population in the country is not known. Sharks are seen along the coasts and offshore waters of Pakistan because the area serves as feeding, breeding and basking ground. Director WWF-Pakistan Rab Nawaz stressed the need for protection of the endangered specie in Pakistan. "There is no natural predator of this largest known fish but these are usually killed after getting trapped in fishing gears," he added.