Daily Times

KARACHI: While fishing between the mouths of Turchan and Khajar creek in the Indus River Delta, local fishermen of Karachi caught a dead long female large-tooth sawfish , approximately 15 ft in length and 1320 kg in weight.

The fishermen used a crane to lift the enormous and heavy carcass on to their boat. They later transported the sawfish to Karachi on a pick-up and auctioned it at Ibrahim Hyderi.

Sawfish are a critically endangered species and the population of this rarely occurring marine animal is globally threatened with extinction due to overfishing. Three species of sawfish namely knife-tooth (Anoxypristis cuspidatus), large-tooth (Pristis pristis) and large-comb (Pristis zijsron) were found in Pakistan.

There was an abundance of sawfish in Pakistan before the 1980s but because of overfishing, its population rapidly collapsed and commercial fisheries have not reared a batch of sawfish since since 1985.

It is believed that sawfish are practically extinct in Pakistan. However, during the last decade, a Pakistan based World Wilflife Fund (WWF) programme documented a few specimens, incidentally caught by fishermen and reported them to the authorities. Studies reveal that the sawfish inhabits coastal waters, and sometimes ascend rivers.

In a similar incident took place in June 2013, also near Khajar Creek, a 450 kg sawfish was caught by the fishermen. In 1962 a large specimen of sawfish was caught in Hyderabad near Ghulam Muhammad Barrage about 170 km from the coastline.

Considering their status and vulnerability catching, landing, marketing and sale of the species was banned under the Sindh Fisheries Ordinance, 1980 through a Sindh vide notification dated 18, May,2016. A similar ban was also imposed in Balochistan.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed all sawfish species as ‘Critically Endangered’ because of a worldwide decline in their populations. Sawfish is also included in Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Under the Appendix 1 of CITES, the commercial trade of sawfish is prohibited.

The main area of sawfish fishing in Pakistan was Miani Hor (Sonmiani), Kalmat Khor, Jiwani, Gwadar and the Indus Delta, especially Khajar Creek. According to the experts, sawfish meat used to be exported to Sri Lanka in salted dried form and its fins were exported to Hong Kong.

Sawfish have a long life span, slow growth, late maturity, and low fecundity and that makes them extremely vulnerable to any unfavourable external changes. Sawfish rostrums (saws) can easily become entangled in nets and other fishing gears and that puts them at risk. At one time sawfish were dominating the shark species but because of the usage of motorized fishing vessels and nylon nets, their population dwindled.

The sawfish population has decreased because of overfishing and habitat degradation and it is considered nearly extinct at local level.

“There is a need to keep a vigil on the landing centres so fishermen do not bring in sawfish and dispose of them in a taciturn manner,” said Dr. Babar Khan, Director Wildlife, WWF-Pakistan. He also urged the the concerned government authorities to be proactive and take punitive action against violators.

Published in Daily Times, May 30^th 2018.