‘Make Churna Island a marine protected area’

WWF-P calls for policymakers to conserve biodiversity that supports livelihoods of many

KARACHI: With World Oceans Day calling on world leaders to protect 30 per cent of oceans by 2030, Churna Island should be declared Pakistan's second marine protected area (MPA) after Astola Island, claimed World Wildlife Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-P) director-general Hammad Naqi Khan on Monday.

Declaring the island an MPA would protect this natural treasure for generations to come, contended Khan, adding that without conscious efforts to protect the health of oceans, these places of natural wonder would become rarer and rarer.

"Pakistan is blessed with marine waters that support the livelihood of thousands of fishers and are home to diverse marine life," he said. "[But our] rich marine resources are currently facing multiple threats including plastic pollution, disposal of untreated sewage, use of harmful fishing nets, overfishing and rise in temperatures."

Therefore, he argued, Churna Island, located around six kilometres from Mubarak Village in Karachi, should be declared the country's second MPA, to combat the climate crisis and protect marine biodiversity.

Rich biodiversity

For World Oceans Day, a short educational video developed by WWF-P filmmaker Nyal Mueenuddin was also released, showcasing biodiversity in Churna Island.

According to the film, Churna Island, a perfect patch of rocks, serves as a transboundary island between Sindh and Balochistan. Experts further believe that with its topography, it is home to rich marine flora and fauna, which includes corals, ornamental fishes, dolphins, baleen whales, sunfishes, whale sharks, seabirds and other tremendous diversity of plants.

The video further showed that the coral habitat is one of the most diverse and valuable ecosystems, supporting a range of fish and other marine species.

According to WWF-P, its rich biodiversity makes Churna Island the ideal candidate to be designated a MPA, adding that through this effort, Pakistan would also achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, which requires that by 2020 at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas as well as 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas of a country are conserved.

Devastating marine ecosystems

The WWF-P further pointed out that human activity was devastating ocean ecosystems through illegal fishing, overfishing, noise pollution and plastic waste, adding that experts had claimed that unsustainable fishing was wiping out whole populations of fish and plant species that communities depend on for their livelihoods.

WWF-P officials also highlighted that the Indus River contributed 164,332 tonnes of plastic waste to the Arabian Sea annually.

They argued that to conserve the rich biodiversity and critical marine habitats of the Arabian Sea, policymakers must declare more MPAs where no fishing is allowed. These safe spaces will mean that there are always places for fish to grow and reproduce and will not only improve the livelihoods of local fishers but also help restore ocean ecosystems naturally, they added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2020.