{"id":299574,"date":"2021-07-15T10:40:01","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T07:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/fishermen-join-fight-to-save-endangered-pakistan-dolphin\/"},"modified":"2021-07-15T10:40:01","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T07:40:01","slug":"fishermen-join-fight-to-save-endangered-pakistan-dolphin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/fishermen-join-fight-to-save-endangered-pakistan-dolphin\/","title":{"rendered":"#Fishermen join fight to save endangered Pakistan dolphin"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Fishermen join fight to save endangered Pakistan dolphin<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"Indus
\n Indus River dolphins once swam from the Himalayas to the Arabian sea.
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Freshwater dolphins are flourishing in a stretch of Pakistan’s main river after a helping hand from fishermen mobilised to defend a rare species driven to near-extinction.<\/p>\n


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Identifiable by their saw-like beaks, Indus River dolphins once swam from the Himalayas to the Arabian sea, but now mostly cluster in a 180-kilometre (110-mile) length of the waterway in southern Sindh province. <\/p>\n

A glimpse of a dolphin cutting through muddy water to gasp for air is a regular sight along the mighty river, but most villagers nearby were unaware their neighbours were on the brink of extinction.<\/p>\n

“We had to explain that it was a unique species only found in the Indus and nowhere else,” Abdul Jabbar, who gave up fishing for a job on the dolphin rescue team, told AFP on the banks of Dadu Canal, which he patrols by motorbike.<\/p>\n

Decades of uncontrolled fishing and habitat loss caused by pollution and man-made dams saw the dolphin population plummet to around 1,200 at the turn of the century.<\/p>\n

They are classed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which says their numbers have fallen by more than 50 percent since the 1940s.<\/p>\n

Dolphin hotline<\/b><\/p>\n

In a bid to turn around the fortunes of the mammals, Pakistani wildlife officials began a painstaking door-to-door awareness campaign with the local fishing community on the riverbanks and arterial canals.<\/p>\n

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\n A glimpse of a dolphin cutting through muddy water to gasp for air is a regular sight along the mighty river, but most villagers nearby were unaware their neighbours were on the brink of extinction.
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

They offered advice on dolphin-friendly nets and warned against harmful and illegal poison-fishing\u2014the practice of using chemicals to kill small fish used for poultry feed.<\/p>\n

The World Wide Fund for Nature also offered up one million rupees ($6,300) worth of loans, encouraging fishermen to set up alternative businesses.<\/p>\n

With the help of the provincial wildlife department, they established a dolphin monitoring network of 100 volunteers and a handful of paid staff, and a 24-hour phone helpline for villagers to call if they see a dolphin in distress.<\/p>\n

Jabbar’s commitment is now boundless. <\/p>\n

He recently missed the birth of his child when a dolphin became trapp<\/a>ed in one of the river’s canals. <\/p>\n

“The doctors were preparing for the caesarean and I needed to be with my wife. But when the call came, I rushed that night to rescue the dolphin,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n

The latest survey, from 2017, showed numbers had rebounded to about 1,800 and wildlife officials expect the population has increased further since. <\/p>\n

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\"Decades
\n Decades of uncontrolled fishing and habitat loss caused by pollution and man-made dams saw the dolphin population plummet to around 1,200 at the turn of the century.
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Diminishing territory<\/b><\/p>\n

Local legend has it that the first Indus River dolphin was once a woman, transformed by a curse from a holy man angry that she forgot to feed him one day.<\/p>\n

Previous generations believed the dolphins\u2014known locally as bullen\u2014were cursed.<\/p>\n

They have evolved to be functionally blind, allowing for a sharpened sense of sonar as they cut through the muddy waters of the river hunting for prey.<\/p>\n

Harmful fishing practices are not the only hazards facing dolphins.<\/p>\n

Every January, when water levels are at their lowest, the floodgates to canals are shut for cleaning, creating pools and lagoons that become death traps for stranded marine life.<\/p>\n

Wildlife Department official Adnan Hamid Khan told AFP that the recent steady rise in dolphins had been a “success story”. <\/p>\n

“But with a larger population comes food shortages, decreased range of movement\u2014their breeding ground and territory has shrunk.”<\/p>\n