KARACHI: The World Wide Fund for NaturePakistan (WWF-Pakistan) has welcomed Pakistan’s first National Plan of Action (NPOA) 2025-2035 for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, calling it a major milestone for the conservation and sustainable management of sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras in the country.
The 10-year framework provides a coordinated national approach to reverse declining populations, strengthen fisheries management and enforcement, reduce bycatch and illegal finning, protectcritical marine habitats, improve scientific research and monitoring, and support sustainable fisheries and coastal livelihoods.
‘The urgency is clear. A WWF-Pakistan assessment reported in 2021 found that shark landings in Pakistan had declined by more than 85 per cent over five decades, highlighting the need for stronger conservation measures, species-specific monitoring and improved fisheries data,’ says a statement released by the organisation on Wednesday.
Officials attributed the decline in shark population largely to overfishing long-term fishing pres-sure for harvesting sharks in terms of fishing nets and an increased number of fishing boats and no cap on catching limited numbers of sharks and bycatch.
‘This is particularly concerning as most of the shark species are apex predators in the food web.
While playing their ecological roles, they recover slowly once they are heavily depleted,’ an official shared with Dawn.
According to the organisation, NPOA marks the culmination of more than a decade of advocacy, scientific research, fisheries monit oring, policy engagement and collaboration with fishing communities and government institutions.
‘Pakistan’s National Plan of Action is a significant conservation milestone and addresses a need that WWF-Pakistan has highlighted for more than a decade. The real value of the national framework, however, will be determined by implementation,’ said Rab Nawaz, senior director, Biodiversity at WWF-Pakistan.
He emphasised that strong enforcement, relia-ble scientific monitoring, protection of threatened species and critical habitats, and meaningful participation of fishing communities would be essential if the NPOA is to deliver measurable conservation outcomes.
Officials shared that a key part of WWFPakistan’s work has been putting fishing communities at the centre of conservation and fisheries science. Through its crewbased observer programme, fishing crews and skippers have been trained in data collection, reporting, species identification and the safe handling and release of vulnerable marine species.
Particular attention has been given to the safe release of whale sharks incidentally entangled in tuna gillnets, while interactions with manta and devil rays have also been documented.
The action plan for shark conservation would require sustained coordination among federal and provincial fisheries authorities, fishing communities, scientists and regional and international partners, he added.