Mehar Gul became the first fisherman of the country to release the declining Indo-Pacific finless porpoise unhurt back into seawater some around 17 kilometres south of Gwadar, Balochistan last Friday, Aug 11. The rare marine species found its first successful escape from gillnet laid for tuna after getting accidentally trapped into it. The fisherman captaining his boat, found the declining marine species in his net accidentally and disentangled it tactfully, throwing back into waters, the WWF-Pakistan said on Saturday.
"About 30 years ago, it was not unusual to see porpoises and their pods along the coastline especially in the bays of Ormara, Pasni and Gwadar as well as in Keti Bundar, Hajamro and Kharo Chan areas," Muhammad Moazzam Khan, Technical Advisor, Marine Fisheries, WWF-Pakistan said. He said that population of the marine species in Pakistan is scaling back since their habitats are in a state of degradation, faced with pollution and mortality from entanglement in fishing gears.
Mehar Gul said that he observed the entangled species was struggling for life and immediately he asked his crew to cease fishing operation. "After struggling for 30 minutes, the crewmen lifted it with support of net haulers and released it back to the sea," he said. Indo-Pacific finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) is found in shallow waters along the coastline, in lagoons such as Miani Hor and Kalmat Khor and also in the estuarine area in the lower reaches of the Indus River.
Porpoises are cetaceans like dolphins and whales but can be distinguished based on their smaller snout and spade-shaped teeth. As name indicates, porpoise species from Pakistan lack dorsal fin, whereas all dolphins have prominent hooked or curved dorsal fin, the WWF-Pakistan said. Rab Nawaz, Senior Director Programmes, WWF-Pakistan lauded the fishermen for his efforts to release safely porpoise which indicates that they are now well aware of the importance of threatened species. In 2012, WWF-Pakistan initiated a programme to train fishermen on safe release of endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species.
Through this programme, trained fishermen have so far released 60 whale sharks, 45 mobulids, 25 sunfish, six dolphins, five whales, 25 sea snakes, five masked boobies (seabirds) and thousands of marine turtles. WWF-Pakistan plans to expand the programme to cover other fisheries such as trawling, coastal gillnetting and seining.
Porpoises are included in the list of protected species under the Sindh and Balochistan fisheries legislations, as well as, Balochistan Wildlife Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management Act, 2014. In 2013, WWF-Pakistan also prepared an action plan for protection of cetaceans, which was agreed upon by all major stakeholders. The implementation of the plan is needed to ensure that cetaceans including dolphins, porpoises and whales are protected in Pakistan.