Giant tiger shark captured by fishermen

550kg shark was already dead when it was retrieved from the water

A giant tiger shark was captured by fishermen about 186 kilometres south of Karachi in the Indus swathe area off Keti Bunder on Sunday.

The shark measured 3.8 metres in length and weighed 550 kilogrammes (kg). The tiger shark is known for its ferocious nature and is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans.



Noor Muhammad, a fisherman trained to collect data for tuna fisheries by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - Pakistan, shared that the specimen was accidently captured and was already dead when it was retrieved from the water. It was too large to be handled and preserved, thus the fisherman used a mechanical lifting device. The male tiger shark was brought to the Karachi Fish Harbour where it was weighed and auctioned for Rs55,000 and converted into finger fish for sale in the market. “Its liver weighed about 150kg and around 120 litres of oil was extracted from it, which will be used to smear the hull of fishing boats to keep them smooth and free from fouling organisms,” he added.





According to Muhammad Moazzam Khan, the technical adviser of marine fisheries at WWF-Pakistan, tiger sharks were once common along the coast of Pakistan. However, he added, shark fisheries almost collapsed due to overfishing. The species is considered ‘near threatened’ according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s red list due to overfishing and a high demand for its meat and fins.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2016.