KARACHI: In a rare development, fishermen caught more than 100 metric tons of sea catfish after a fishing boat from Rehri noticed a mass-scale aggregation of giant sea catfish at the mouth of Khai Creek in the Indus Delta.
According to details, the fishermen sought help from six other boats operating in the vicinity as the aggregation was too big to be harvested by a single boat. It took almost five hours to harvest the entire aggregation.
Later, the catch was auctioned at Karachi Fish Harbour fetching a price of Rs110 per kg, making a total of Rs11 million. In the past, aggregation of sea catfish was frequently found between October to March along Pakistan’s coastline.
However, as a result of overfishing and changes in oceanographic conditions, such aggregations have become a rare occurrence. The last such aggregation was reported in March 2017 when about 80 metric tons of catfish was harvested.
According to Technical Adviser of Marine Fisheries Muhammad Moazzam Khan, WWF-Pakistan catfish from large are breeding aggregations in coastal areas. He added that the present aggregation seems to consist of only one species, which is called Netuma thalassina or giant catfish.
WWF-Pakistan Regional Head of Sindh and Balochistan Dr Tahir Rasheed noted that the occurrence of a large aggregation of catfish at the mouth of the River Indus in Khai Creek is indicative of healthy and rich environmental conditions along the coast of Pakistan.
