Conservation: Mahasher fish faces extinction

ISLAMABAD: Owing to damming and ecological fragmentation of water bodies, pollution, water diversion, habitat destruction and indiscriminate hunting, population of mahasher fish has been continuously declining in the country. The fish of Tor family is presently almost non-existent in the rivers of Punjab. “Pakistan Museum of Natural History  has taken effective measures to preserve the fish, facing extinction at alarming pace, by declaring Poonch River of Azad Jammu and Kashmir as Mahasher National Park, Director PMNH, Dr Muhammad Rafique said. IUCN has declared it an endangered species, he said. Dr.Rafique said 10 Kg specimen of 3.5 feet long have been caught in the Poonch River.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2014.