An 8.2 feet-long and 400 kilograms heavy rare pygmy sperm whale strangled to death in a fishermen's net some 120 nautical miles south-west off the Karachi coast on March 4, the WWF-Pakistan said on Friday. "Whales and dolphins are sensitive animals and in most cases when entangled in fishing nets died immediately, as they cannot come to surface for breathing," said Muhammad Moazzam Khan, Technical Advisor on Marine Fisheries at WWF-Pakistan.
"This is one of the smallest whales which is found at the outer continental shelf and considered to be very rare," the WWF-Pakistan said, adding that the species widely known to dwell in Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Skipper Saeed Zaman, who had laid his gillnet net to hunt tuna fish in the continental shelf, accidentally trapped pygmy sperm whale. The fishermen could not rescue the species after hauling it on boat which died for short of breath.
"The whale was enmeshed in the net and died when hauled on the boat. After disentanglement, the WWF-Pakistan observer on board recoded its length which was estimated to be 8.2 feet and weighing about 400-kg. Later on it was discarded," the WWF-Pakistan said. Moazzam Khan pointed out that the pygmy sperm whale fed on squid fish and crabs on deep-sea. "WWF-Pakistan has initiated an awareness programme for release of mega fauna in the fishing nets. This awareness has already resulted in safe release of 15 whale sharks, 3 mobulids, 2 sunfish and 1 Longman's beaked whale during past six months," he said.
WWF-Pakistan Director Rab Nawaz said that the World Wildlife Fund had initiated a voluntary observer programme to compile records of whales and dolphins. "Last month another extremely rare Longman's beaked whale was reported by WWF-Pakistan which was successfully released in the sea," he said.
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