"This 5 foot long turtle was caught in gillnet laid to catch tuna. Nakhuda Saeed Badsha, captain of the tuna gillnet vessel noticed the giant turtle entangled in his gillnet," the WWF-Pakistan said on Friday that "this is for the first time that such a large turtle was released by fishermen in Pakistan's high seas".
Muhammad Moazzam Khan, Technical Advisor, the WWF-Pakistan, said that leatherback turtles were amongst the global rarest sea species also found in Pakistan. "Recent studies reveal that this species is declining precipitously throughout its distribution range, including Pakistan," he said.
He attributed marine turtles showing up at the country's coasts to a recent bloom of jellyfish, which it feed on. "In December, 2016 a very large bloom of jellyfish - leatherback turtles feed exclusively upon - was reported at the same location by WWF-Pakistan. This is possibly the reason why the leatherback turtle was attracted to the area and got entangled in the fishing net," he pointed out.
He said that five species of marine turtles were reported to show up along the Pakistan's coasts including green, olive-ridley, hawksbill, loggerhead and leatherback turtles. Among them, he said that leatherbacks were considered the rarest species. "Globally, they are listed as vulnerable in the IUCN's Red List of threatened species. Previously, there were seven authentic reports of its confirmed occurrence in Pakistani waters," Moazzam Khan said.
Two dead leatherback turtles were first reported by the Sindh Wildlife Department in the 1980s from the coast of Karachi and one from Gwadar West Bay in 2012. The first incident of a live turtle's trapping in nets happened on April 16, 2013 when fishermen operating a monofilament gillnet caught a large leatherback and brought it to Gwadar shores near Surbandar village. The turtle was subsequently released by the WWF-Pakistan staff, unhurt.
The second giant live leatherback turtle was caught in gillnets in Surbandar and was brought to Gwadar and later released back in waters. The third leatherback turtle was entangled in tuna gillnets near Ghora Bari offshore waters on October 22, 2016 and was released after a long struggle. On 17 November 2016, one large leatherback turtle was found dead possibly due to the collision with a boat at Miani Hor lagoon near Sonmiani, Lasbela District, Balochistan, the WWF-Pakistan recalled.
Rab Nawaz, Senior Director Programmes, WWF-Pakistan, expressed fears over the fast decline in the population of leatherback turtle across Indian Ocean over the past 40 years. "The global population of this species was estimated to be 115,000 adult females in 1982 but declined to 30,000-40,000 in 1996," he added.
"The nesting colony in Terengganu, Malaysia, went from more than 3,000 females in 1968 to 20 in 1993 and to just two recorded recently - there are no signs of recovery," he said, adding that "the WWF considers leatherbacks a priority species, it has initiated a number of programmes globally to protect nesting beaches and near shore habitats by establishing and strengthening sanctuaries and wildlife refuges". He said that the awareness in coastal communities could help grow and protect population of the endangered species.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017