Pod of humpback whales sighted again near Karachi coast

A pod of five Arabian Sea humpback whales was seen near the coast of Chann Creek on October 8, some 57 kilometres southeast of Karachi, the second such sighting in two months.

A WWF-Pakistan trained fisherman, Jehan Badsha Nakhuda of a tuna gillnet boat, recorded the sighting.

According to the fisherman, the whales were feeding on pelagic shrimp (locally known as saani) which form patches in the water of the area. One of the humpback whales had distinct scars near its dorsal fin and on the tail, possibly caused by entanglement in fishing gear or due to a boat strike.

Earlier, on September 12, a pod of six Arabian Sea humpback whales was reported by WWF-Pakistan trained fishermen around 36 to 50 km north of the present location.

There is a possibility that the present sighting may be of the same group of whales. Arabian Sea humpback whales are considered a rare sub-population with restricted distribution in the northern Arabian Sea.

All these sightings were made by fishermen trained under WWF-Pakistan’s Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction project funded by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, Global Environmental Facility and Common Oceans.

A discrete subpopulation of humpback whales, scientifically known as Megaptera novaeangliae, is known to inhabit the Arabian Sea. It is generally considered an isolated whale with a unique year-round residency in sub-tropical waters of the Arabian Sea and is considered the most endangered whale in the world as, according to estimates based on photo-identification, there are 82 individuals left in the world.

The isolated population of Arabian Sea humpback whales is the smallest, most distinct, and most at risk in its range of distribution extending between Yemen and Oman in the west to Iran, Pakistan and India in the east.

Muhammad Moazzam Khan, the WWF-Pakistan technical advisor (marine fisheries), appreciated the efforts of the fishermen who recorded these humpback whales in Pakistani waters.

He said that these recordings will help in understanding the migration and biology of this unique marine mammal.  The makings and scars on their bodies can be used for identification of individual specimens. This is the first time that distinct scars on whales were photographed and recorded from Pakistan.

Khan maintained that WWF-Pakistan had already trained fishermen to record whales through photographic evidence. On the request of WWF-Pakistan, the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency has asked all its vessels as well as the Pakistan naval fleet to report sightings of any whales in the area.

He pointed out that whales had been declared protected species under fisheries legislations of the governments of Sindh and Balochistan in May 2016 and September 2016 respectively.

It was also declared a protected species under the Balochistan Wildlife Protection, Preservation, Conservation and Management Act 2014. Effective implementation of these laws will ensure protection of this endangered subpopulation of humpback whale.

Rab Nawaz, the WWF-Pakistan senior director programmes, termed these sightings very important as there are limited records from Pakistani waters. Considering its rarity and uniqueness, WWF-Pakistan has established an Arabian Sea Humpback Whale network that organized an international workshop in Dubai from January 27 to 29, 2015 which was attended by whale experts from the regional as well as other countries from the world.

During the workshop, it was decided that immediate and close cooperation between the regional countries is required. Nawaz also lauded the efforts of fishermen who regularly sight megafauna found in the Arabian Sea and collect photographic evidences of their occurrence in Pakistan, in most cases using their cell phones. “Looking at the success of the training of fishermen in Pakistan, some regional countries are considering replicating similar crew based monitoring system in their areas,” he added.