Saving Whales — A Fisherman’s Story
It all happened almost twenty years ago, but it seemed like the memory was still fresh in Shah Zamin’s mind while recalling the story years later.
Shah Zamin was hardly twenty years old the day when a Bryde’s whale entangled in one of the tuna gillnets while out in the rough seas along the coastline. The whale struggled for hours, tail stuck in the net, as it entangled further and further. And then the captain of the ship, Nakhuda, had enough. It was time to cut the whale loose, he told Shah Zamin. But how he hurt another living thing. The idea itself was appalling to Zamin, he did not have it his heart to do it.
But it had to be done, the captain wanted the net free so he could go home. So another fisherman jumped into the water with an axe and a big knife and cut loose the huge tail stuck in the net. The whale struggled hard as its body got free from the net. Only now it could not swim and so its body started floating vertically. Bellowing loudly, as if crying with pain, blood started gushing from the truncated tail, turning the blue water to deep red. Nakhuda heaved the net but the agonizing grunting of the whale kept everyone’s attention. And then with a final loud roar the whale sank down, never to surface again, leaving the deep red water behind it.
In the evening, after hauling the net they returned back to the landing centre at Karachi. Shah Zamin was still sadden by he saw, and it would later turn out that it would remain with him for a long time. The dying whale and the color of the water were stuck in his mind for a long time.
Without his share of the day’s catch, Shah Zamin returned to his shack. He was tired but could not sleep and cried for the poor whale. He decided that he could not fish any more, as what he saw haunted him for a long time. He tried to find another job but being an unskilled worker he could not get any. Working as labourer, waiter and guard, he was not earning a good living. With no option left, he finally returned to fishing but decided not to work for Nakhuda who ordered the brutal cutting of the Bryde’s whale’s tail. While narrating this, Shah Zamin had tears in his eyes. After all these years, the event still held an impact of him.
All these years later, Shah Zamin is now a captain himself, who operates his large tuna gillnetter in rough Arabian Sea. As captain of his vessel he ensures that there is no such animal in the vicinity before putting the net in the sea.
Shah Zamin, now a seasoned captain, was asked to attend a skipper workshop in 2012 arranged by WWF-Pakistan to make fishermen aware of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) requirements and reduce by-catch. He most willingly joint the workshop and narrated the event. He told other participants about how he has been throwing back undesirable species back in the sea, as soon as they are disentangled from the net. Shah Zamin now learned that by-catch of non-target species is not desirable and some of these animals need to be protected. He enthusiastically learned the process of disentangling whales, turtles and other large animals from the gillnets and gently releasing them in the sea.
After attending the workshop, Shah Zamin have released more than 150 turtles and other large animals, while informing WWF-Pakistan about the date, location, size and even the species released by him. He considers gillnet to be a harmful gear but having no choice, still uses it. He is extremely concerned that most cetaceans especially entrapped dolphins, in most cases, die before the net is heaved.
On May 2014, a Bryde’s whale got entangled in the gillnet deployed by Shah Zamin. He immediately stopped fishing activity and strived hard to release it. In the process, they lost a part of the fishing net but Shah Zamin was happy that he compensated the loss of the whale brutally killed all these years back.
One of the captain trained by him has released one of the rarest cetacean Longman’s beaked whale in January 2015 which is the first case in the world of successful release of this rare animal. Nevertheless on two occasions he managed to release live dolphins enmeshed in his net. Shah Zamin is aware that whale and whale shark are harmless, docile giants of the sea and are threatened. In past three years, he has released four whale sharks, as well. During the process of releasing giant sea animals, the fishermen has to lose a part of their expensive net but for Shah Zamin, releasing turtles, whales and whale sharks is more rewarding than this loss.
Shah Zamin, on his own, is now acting as an ambassador of WWF and spreading the words about reducing by-catch in gillnets and saving precious marine life. He prides himself in the fact that he has motivated other tuna fishermen who are now safely releasing turtles, whale sharks, mobulids and other whales. He has now started releasing other megafauna as well. Shah Zamin has himself released one Bryde’s whale, two mobulids, four whale sharks and one sunfish. He could not forget unfortunate death of the whale two decades back but now he feels happy that he is saving precious marine life as well as earning a livelihood.
In Shah Zamin’s opinion, best solution will be to introduce sustainable fishing options, possibly longlining in place of gillnetting. He hopes that this change will happen soon!
Muhammad Moazzam Khan is Technical Advisor, Marine Fisheries, WWF-Pakistan.
