NewsOctober 11 , 2016
Entangled bottlenose dolphin safely released
KARACHI: In a rare event, an entangled bottlenose dolphin was safely released by trained fishermen into the sea near Ormara, on Saturday.
As per the details, fisherman Jehan Badsha, skipper of a tuna gillnetter observed a live dolphin entangled in a gillnet laid down to catch tuna. He immediately asked the crew to retrieve the fishing gear on board and carefully freed the dolphin from the net.
Despite the animal being heavy and slippery, the fishermen successfully detangled the common bottlenose dolphin and released it into the sea.
Release of the dolphin is considered very important from a conservation point of view. Previously, two dolphins were released in 2015.
There are two species of bottlenose dolphins including the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiopstruncatus), which is mostly found in offshore waters and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiopsaduncus), which is more coastal in nature. Both these species are reported from Pakistan and pods of these dolphins can be seen in coastal and offshore waters frequently.
Muhammad Moazzam Khan of WWF-Pakistan said it is very rare that a dolphin can survive the entanglement. He pointed out that 22 species of cetaceans are known from Pakistan and all of these are considered vulnerable or threatened.
Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk
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