KARACHI: A shark whale measuring about 20 feet was caught off Ibrahim Haideri coast of Karachi, local fishermen said on Thursday.
The big shark trapped into the fishermen net in the sea, was pulled to the Ibrahim Haideri coast and sold in market. A fishermen said that the shark was either severely injured after being hit by some ship’s propellers or dead, when it was caught. He said that catching a live shark whale is always deadly dangerous.
“Hunting, marketing and trade of whale shark is ban under Sindh and Balochistan Fisheries laws,” Muhammad Moazzam Khan, Technical Adviser on Marine Fisheries at WWF-Pakistan, told Business Recorder. It is a migratory species, which travels great distances. In India it is given same level of protection as given to Bengal tiger and Indian Rhinoceros, he said.
It falls on the Red Lists of globally endangered species. It grows to 5.6-meter with maximum weight of 30 tons it can live up to 80 years, he pointed out.
“This is whale shark which is largest fish found in the world.” In Pakistan prior to 1970 fishermen used to kill this harmless species for its liver. Fishermen use the liver oil of this fish to lubricate and smear the hulls of their boats. Killing of this fish by fishermen is extremely “sad” and they should be punished under law, Moazzam Khan said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022