All endangered marine species: Balochistan bans hunting, trade

ANWAR KHAN

KARACHI: In a bid to place a legal shield to protect the fast-shrinking marine species especially sharks, the Balochistan government has banned hunting, retention, trade and marketing of all endangered fish, turtles and berried crabs. With an amendment made on Thursday, September 8 to the Balochistan Sea Fisheries Rule, 1971, the hunting, holding, marketing and trading of all threatened, protected and endangered marine species are banned throughout the provincial seawaters, it is learnt on Friday.

The official ban is expected to help protect scores of endangered marine animals including sawfish, whale shark, silky shark, oceanic whitetips shark, thresher shark and hammerhead shark, mobulid rays, guitarfish, dolphin and marine turtles. The amendment also adds crabs in the Rule to include it on the list of banned sea species. The WWF-Pakistan expects the amendment will help protect mobulid ray and sawfish from extinction in Pakistan's seawaters. It says that various international legislations and agreements protect whale shark, silky shark, oceanic whitetips shark, thresher shark and hammerhead from hunting and trading.

"This legislation will provide strength to adhere to these practices as well as ensure conservation of threatened species," Technical Advisor (Marine Fisheries), WWF-Pakistan, Muhammad Moazzam Khan said. The WWF-Pakistan says that scores of countries were planning to ban hunting of guitar fish and wedge fish as well since their stocks were dwindling world-wide. "The Government of Balochistan has taken a proactive step, thus setting a good example for other countries to follow," it appreciates.

It also lauds a ban on hunting of berried crabs, saying that the species resources are depleting from its over-catching loaded with eggs. The WWF-Pakistan says its role is in the amendment of Rule and vows to continue its support to the Balochistan and Sindh governments to evolve mechanisms for implementation of fisheries laws.

In May 2016, the Sindh government had also banned hunting of these endangered marine species in its territorial seawaters, it recalls, hoping that the catching restrictions placed by both coastal provinces of the country will help protect the ecologically important and threatened sea animals all around the Pakistan shorelines. It terms the amendment as a 'major' step for the conservation of marine species. Pakistan is one of the signatories of a number of international agreements and instruments, which require the country to carry out legislations for the protection of important marine animals.

"Legislation issued by Government of Balochistan will ensure compliance to some of these instruments. Pakistan is also a member of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), which requires that tuna fishing boats may have restrictions on catching silky sharks, oceanic whitetips sharks, thresher sharks, hammerhead sharks and whale sharks as well as mobulid," the WWF-Pakistan says.

It says that the government's enforcement of the amended Rule will help ensures compliance to the IOTC specifications, besides conserving such threatened marine species. It believes the initiative will help the conservation of threatened marine resources in the coastal and offshore waters of Pakistan.

The amendment also requires the boat owners to ensure installation of a satellite-based Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) to all their vessels larger than 15 meters in length. The VMS on boats is mandatory under the IOTC and other international agreements. Despite the government's commitments, the installation of VMS could not be enforced on the fishing vessels since relevant law was missing, the WWF says.

It says that it has already installed the VMS and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) on fishing boats in Balochistan on a pilot scale, hoping the new legal cover will make monitoring possible of all vessels operating in the coastal and offshore waters around the clock. The WWF-Pakistan signed a Letter of Cooperation with the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency on February 17, 2016 for collaboration in promoting the use of VMS and AIS in fishing boats operating in Pakistan.