Sir: A 10-foot-long and 96-kilogramme-heavy rare largetooth sawfish was caught by local fishermen near Surbandar, Gwadar a few days ago. Despite a ban on its catch and trade due to its near extinction, the rare fish was later sold to traders for Rs 26,000. The sawfish population is considered under extreme threat of extinction. Three species of sawfish — the knifetooth (anoxypristis cuspidatus), largetooth (pristis pristis) and largecomb (pristis zijsron) – are present in Pakistani waters. Fishermen and marine experts say that due to overfishing and habitat degradation the population of sawfish has decreased substantially and they are now considered to be nearly locally extinct. According to the records of the World Wide Fund for Nature — Pakistan (WWF-P), only three authentic records of their existence have been recorded in Pakistan in the last 10 years — the first on September 11, 2009, when a 1.4-metre-long largetooth was seen at the Gwadar fish harbour, the second in June, 2013 when a large specimen of sawfish was caught at the Khair Creek near the mouth of the Indus River and the third on May 11, 2015, when a largetooth was sighted at the Karachi fish harbour. Fishermen used to catch dozens of sawfish daily. The fishermen said the fish mostly lived near mangroves. A protection plan was needed to preserve rare fish in Pakistani waters. Sawfish meat used to be exported to Sri Lanka, along with other sharks in salted dried forms. The fins used to be exported to Hong Kong. Empty skies: Sparrows, swifts among endangered species Because of the decline in the sawfish population worldwide, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature listed all sawfish species as ‘critically endangered’. Sawfish are also included in appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species which prohibits any commercial trade of those species. MEHBOOB TAJ Ketch