Locally uncommon dorsal-fin swordfish finally ended up in a fisherman's trap somewhere in Miani Hor lagoon off Balochistan coast this midweek, the WWF-Pakistan said on Thursday. Also known as a broadbill fish and classified as 'Xiphias Gladius' it inhabits warm and temperate seas have showed up in Pakistan waters for the first time after a local sport fisherman - Moula Bakhsh preyed it with a hand-line gear in the lagoon between Dam and Bera areas last Tuesday, January 26.
"Its occurrence in Miani Hor lagoon is quite unusual as this fast-moving fish seems to have been disoriented and eventually moved into this lagoon," Technical Adviser WWF-Pakistan, Muhammad Moazzam Khan said, adding that the fish swam three meters a second in seas.
The fish is seven-foot long and weighted some 56 kilogram. It fetched Rs 8, 800 on the local fisheries market in Karachi, the WWF-Pakistan said, citing the local fishermen that catching swordfish was unusual since it had never showed up in the lagoon areas before. The swordfish is a rare oceanic species dwells deep seawaters. "This species is included in billfishes such as Marlin and sailfish and is represented by six species in Pakistan," it said, adding that the fish was locally known as 'ghoraor aspand' and considered commercially very important.
Eight thousand metric tons of other species of the same fish family land on the local market every year but swordfish is hardly represented the entire catch. "Pakistani boats operating in the Central Indian Ocean and waters off Yemen and Somalia occasionally catch swordfish therefore, it is generally referred to as the Somali ghora," it said.
"This fish is considered a delicacy and its world annual production is around 120,000 metric tons. Its meat is sold for steaks and also used for various other marinated and grilled products," Moazzam Khan said and called swordfish as an 'ultimate' goal of sport fishermen in the world.
He believed the fish had disoriented its general seas routes and accidentally surfaced in Balochistan lagoon. He said that the local fishermen had seldom caught juvenile swordfish in Pakistan offshore waters. Despite the global swordfish catch is some 32,000 metric tons annually in the Indian Ocean, its growth is steady since it is not prone to overfishing, he said, adding that "it is mainly caught in the central and southern Indian Ocean through long line fishing gears".
Secretary of Coastal Association of Research and Development (CARD), who also volunteers to the WWF-Pakistan, Abdul Qayoom confirmed the species had never showed up in the local waters. WWF-Pakistan continues collecting details about billfishes from the coastal and offshore waters of Pakistan over the last five years. So far, the WWF-Pakistan could collect six specimen of this fish surfaced from outer margin of Exclusive Economic Zone but never seen in shallow waters, in creeks or lagoons.
"Occurrence of this species in the lagoon area is unbelievable as this is an oceanic fish," Co-ordinator WWF-Pakistan, Umair Shahid said, adding that the climate change may have brought about swordfish emergence in the local waters. He said that the very fish was highly predatory and migratory as it dwelt in tropical and sub-tropical waters across of all the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean. Chairman Marine Peace Aziz Agha said that the local recreational fishermen had never come across swordfish in the area waters, saying that most of sport anglers were longing to catch the dorsal-fin fish.
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