12,000 dolphins die each year in Pakistan

KARACHI (Web Desk) – About 12,000 dolphins are killed by hunters every year in Pakistan, a new study shows.

The study conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) shows that a staggering number of dolphins are killed every year as bycatch, after being entrapped in tuna gillnets. The WWF estimated that annual mortality figure for dolphins stands at 12,000.

Titled ‘An Assessment of Cetacean Mortality in the Tuna Fisheries of Pakistan’, the study was conducted by director WWF-P (Sindh region) Rab Nawaz and Mohammad Moazzam Khan. The study was funded by the Australian Marine Mammal Centre.

The year-long data was collected in 2012 through observers posted on four tuna gillnet vessels as well as daily monitoring of tuna gillnetters at the Karachi fish harbor.

Pakistan is one of the few countries where gillnet is being used for catching different species of tuna, the study shows. The report discovered yellowfin tuna as the main tuna species being reported in commercial catches.