Dead whale shark sold for Rs1.7million
Mehmood Khan, the owner of the Charai Fishery, said that the whale shark was spotted unconscious ten days ago, 150kms away from the fishery.
Two cranes were called in to fish the dead whale shark out of the water, which was approximately40 to 50-feet long and six-feet wide. Both cranes failed to pull out the fish and were sent back as at least three more cranes were required to carry out the task.
Later, more cranes, capable of lifting heavier weights, were called in, which successfully pulled the fish out after several hours of continued efforts.
The dead fish remained the focus of interest for the media and the curious onlookers during the whole process.
The fishermen of the area were earlier speculating that the fish was a Black Shark.
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There is a beautifully written piece 'A shark of a tale' by Sami Shah based on this incident.You will find it in the opinion section of ET.
You know! it could be the shark Gujrat(India) fishermen caught but released upon seeing the coast guards or that recent "mammal saving" Guru team there. Indian fishermen catch 150 to 200 of the whale shark(sell for a lakh) in the current mating season in south Indian warm waters where they come in great number to give birth.
Now that story by the fisherman that he found it unconscious near Pak-India Sea border make sense. You can see by the plump body of the fish and healthy condition it was there for purpose of mating and lost consciousness after being caught in the net for God knows how long, but sure was as good as dead when these fishermen found it.
I read in the urdu newspaper. "Pakistani Fisherman caught the Black Shark. How could it passible they caught the Blak shark 40 feets . who sell it ? who baught it. They are not able to control DANGEE "Masqito" how they kill Shark.? Now I know she was dead black whale.
And this shark was "already dead" was it? Given the amount it was sold for I find that hard to believe. It is an endangered species and should not be allowed to be sold under any circumstances. Period.
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was sold for 1.7m? at least give a proper news..who bought.. for what he bought.. sold to common people or what?
Did the 40ft whale shark die of natural causes or was he killed by man? Please let me know? These creatures tend to stay deep in the ocean.
It is very sad if this gentle creature was killed. All over the world people try to help beached and ill whales and sharks. However in Pakistan, while we will stick to every ritual, we disregard the Islamic command to be kind to animals, to not kill unnecessarily, and to not cause unnecessary suffering. We are becoming increasingly brutalized, while the whole world is moving forward.
Unfortunately there seems to be an increase of whales, dolphins, and other fish either washing themselves up on beaches, or coming closer to shore to die. It is something that is going on all over the world and not just in Pakistan.
Why do people want to stand upon a dead animal? What makes them do this? It's sick ...
Dont we have any marine biologists who could make better use of the fish, considering it very well could be the biggest whale shark ever found. WIsh we could have documented it before having it hastily auctioned off. Secondly who gets the proceeds under the sale since the fish died in pakistani waters?
I would also like to enquire as to who is the owner of this footage as I would like to contact them? Thank you
Whale sharks are protected by international law as an endangered species and according to CITES cannot be sold to anyone outside of Pakistan. If their intention is to remove the fins to sell to China's fin trade, they will be acting against international trade restrictions. It's clear to see from most of your comments received so far, that there is little awareness about whale sharks and conservation of this gentle harmless endangered species. Even the fishermen who catch them as they have done for generations don't even know the difference between a whale shark and other species! Only a small part of this animal will be consumed (although it is not advisable considering the shark was apparently already dead when caught and who knows what the cause of death was). Given the high degree of mercury and other heavy metal contaminants that get stored in shark meat, these slow moving creatures ingest massive volumes of seawater when feeding on the plankton that is their main food source. That water could be heavily polluted and sadly whale sharks are sometimes afflicted by toxins and prone to diseases. It is a crying shame that Pakistan's government doesn't intervene and stop the practice of landing endangered species that are reaching critical levels in our oceans. Pakistan has one of the most active Indian Ocean shark fisheries responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of sharks of all kinds throughout every year! Even baby whale sharks are landed from time to time. The world is trying to unite when it comes to shark conservation, but clearly it is going to have to do so without Pakistan as a partner!
Is this thing halal to eat? It was already dead when it was brought ashore.
The people of Pakistan don't respect each other so how can we expect them to care for a shark? After all, are we not supposed to take care of and help Allah's creation?
But, we don't seem to care. Shame on us!
i'd like to know what they are going to do with the shark? eat it? seems like a bad idea to eat a fish that was already dead in the water. is it common practice to find fish floating in the water and eat them?
So they can immediately claim that the shark is theirs to own and sell? Is it going to be sold off so people in Asia can make Shark Fin soup or the Japanese make millions and millions of sushi.
Again, who was the "owner" of the fish? May the one who paid for the crane services. It's good it's not hot summer days. With Shark hunting ban this could fetch that many dollars from Japan market. Mixed meat(poisonous if not correctly cooked) is $100-$300 a pound in world market, other biggest money makers are Cat Food, Vitamin pills and Grease for cosmetics products. I hope the fish wasn't alive when dragged out of water, it looked fresh.
Bon Appétit Karachiiets!! Engoy the fried finger fish in restaurants !!
Polluted waters? How frequently such incidents are happening? Who it was sold it to? What they will do with the dead fish? These are some serious questions we would like to know but the illiterate, awara media is more interested in $$$$$$$$$$.
Now the citizens of karachi will enjoy the meat of an already dead fish.
The whale after death has a value of 1.7 million. whereas a human life in Karachi has no value during his life time as well as after his death.
looks its size and weight it is phenomeno.
Its a whale shrk... Poor thing is gonna be finned and sold off to the chinese...
Poor Shark!!! Cannot even die in peace... Fish tikka, Fish biryani, Masla Fish, Finger Fish will be in abundance.
Had it been a "Shark" the size of it would have brought it to the record books.
I has mention "auction started". It is not fair, I think its right of Eildlife Pakistan or some like organization to take into custody.
IT is WHALE SHARK!!! There is no such thing as a 'black Shark' , Bit 'tip' shark is the only one which come to mind and they do not grow this big. Whale shark on the other hand is the biggest Fish in the ocean.
From size and skin spots, it looks like Whale Shark (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark).
Be careful while buying fish from those fishermen. They do not know what they are selling :).
It's clearly a whale shark and not a black shark. by the way, what is a black shark?
hahahaha the fisherman in the area speculated its a BLACK shark. this is very amusing. well let them speculate about its color. this unfortunate magnificent creature is called a WHALE SHARK, its the largest fish in the world. the poor thing must have been knocked unconscious by the polluted waters surrounding the fishery. the only thing we are concerned with is auctioning the dead shark...