Samples of whale shark to be sent to Canada

Karachi

The Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) has decided to send samples of the carcass of a 12-foot whale shark, brought to the Karachi Fish Harbour on Friday after being caught off the Charna Island by fishermen a day earlier, to a research institute in Canada to ascertain its cause of death and age.

“We have written letters to nine local institutes, including the Institute of Oceanography, Centre of Excellence in Marine Biology, KU, Pakistan Museum of Natural History Islamabad, to send their experts for the dissection and collecting samples of the whale shark,” Director General, Marine Fisheries Department Shaukat Hussain told The News on Saturday.

He said the MFD took possession of the carcass of the three-ton whale shark from Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) and invited the nine local institutes to send their experts for an autopsy and analysis of the slow-moving, plankton-eating shark.

“Today, I talked to the fishermen who incidentally caught the whale shark and asked them how they caught the giant fish and whether they took any measures to kill the marine specie.”

The fish had been caught by a 14-member crew aboard a boat called Safina Imraj on Thursday afternoon. It died some time later and was towed to the fish harbour on Friday.

Hussain said the samples of the fish would also be sent to a research institute in Canada, as was done when a whale shark was brought to fish harbour by fishermen in February 2012, to determine its age and cause of death.

“Canadian marine experts had informed us that the whale shark brought to the Karachi Fish Harbour was of 50 years of age, which is the natural age of whale sharks and it helped us to determine that the whale shark died of natural causes,” he informed.

He maintained that the Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, had completed the stuffing of the whale shark caught last year and this whale shark would also be handed over to them for preservation.

Earlier, Karachi Fish Harbour authorities took possession of the whale shark from the fishermen, stopped its public auction and handed it over to the MFD for research purposes.

Source:thenews.com.pk