Resource extraction: Endangered fish habitat under threat

Margalla Hills area of the Soan River has been a natural breeding ground for Tor putitora.

ISLAMABAD:

Large scale extraction of sand, gravel and stones from the Margalla Hills has destroyed the natural habitat of Tor putitora, an endangered species of fish.

This fish has been a great natural asset of the Potohar Plateau over the ages, but it is under constant threat because of habitat loss and environmental degradation.

The Margalla Hills area of the Soan River has been a natural breeding ground for this fish, which mostly breeds along the gravel bed.

“The deteriorating aquatic habitat, already under threat mostly due to municipal and industrial pollution from Rawalpindi and Islamabad, is further worsening for breeding of the fish,” said Dr Muhammad Rafique, director of the Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH).



He said that fry of this breed have been seen in areas upriver from Rawal Dam, which shows that the fish was still breeding there, despite the construction of dams and pollution in the Soan River.

Dr Rafique said that problems like the diversion of water bodies, construction, urbanisation, population influx, habitat fragmentation, physical and ecological barriers in migration of fish and pollution were very severe in the area.

He said that due to this, the River Soan and its tributaries upstream have been highly disturbed and have changed ecologically. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2013.