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Vast scatters of coral reefs discovered along Balochistan coastal belt

By Amar Guriro

KARACHI: For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD) found vast scatters of coral reefs along the coastal belt of Balochistan.

After the discloser of these reefs, Pakistan will now be included in the list of 100 countries in the world where coral reefs are found. These reefs were found during the recent SWD survey conducted in different coastal towns of Balochistan; the SWD survey team also found dead coral reefs on the coastal hills of Balochistan.

“The discovery of these coral reefs in the Arabian Sea along the Balochistan coast is breaking-news for the international community,” said SWD Hyderabad Conservator Dr Fehmida Firdos.

Firdos, the team-leader of the survey team, said that these coral reefs were found on the Daraan and Gunz coasts of Balochistan in a four-day survey of the coastal areas of Balochistan. “We were supposed to continue the survey for a longer period but as the weather was not suitable, we were not able to continue,” she said.

Corals are actually animals that belong to phylum vertebrate; international coral reefs are endangered wildlife, however in Pakistan, the government has yet to declare these strange rock shaped animals as endangered and protected wildlife. “We are planning to recommend to the federal government to legislate and declare these coral reefs as endangered wildlife as Pakistan is already a member of the International Coral Reefs Task Force,” said Firdos.

Coral reefs are found in around 100 countries in the world and the most famous reef is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, one of the wonders of the natural world and the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem. Coral reefs are supposed to be the most beautiful of all aquatic ecosystems and they attract large numbers of marine animals and fish as they produce living biomass. They also provide many free economic and environmental services to the country where they are found including fisheries, tourism, and generation of sand for beaches and also prevent coastal erosion. Corals are also used in different medicines and some people use them to make jewels, ornaments and decoration pieces.

“We found soft and hard corals during the survey inside the sea; we also found dead corals on the land along the coast,” Firdos revealed, adding that the survey was conducted with the collaboration of South-east Asian Environmental Program, Sri Lanka and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

After finding these reefs, the SWD has initiated an awareness campaign amongst the school children of Balochistan through pamphlets and wall posters, so that students can become aware of the importance of these coral reefs.

Firdos disclosed that recently she received an application from an individual to issue permission to export these corals. “These corals are internationally protected, so we bluntly rejected the application for the permission,” she added.

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