KARACHI, Feb 10: “We had no idea what we had found until it was pulled out of the channel and we saw a giant fish before our eyes. We were all flabbergasted. None of us have ever seen such a big fish before,” says Mohammad Dilawar, captain of the Al-Hafeez boat that recently towed the 35-foot-long and 15-tonne heavy whale shark to the Karachi harbour.

Given the enormous size and weight of the shark, it is difficult to believe that the job was done with the help of a small fibre boat (about 28 feet long) called ghunda in local parlance. The seven-member crew that was on a 12-day trip to the sea spotted the shark on the final day of the journey.

“It was morning and we were at a spot where the water was 100 feet deep when we spotted the fish that was entangled in the longline with about 3,000 hooks.

“When we tried to take out the longline, the bearings broke which made us believe that we had caught a good, big catch this time. We couldn’t see its entire size, but managed to get hold of its tail,” explains Dilawar sitting in the same boat that brought the fish to shore.

The fishermen insist there was no movement in the fish as they fastened several ropes around the shark’s tail. “How could we catch such a big fish with such a small vessel? If the fish had been alive, we could all have been killed,” contends Rehmatullah, another fisherman.

None of the fishermen have ever been part of any training programme organised by the fisheries authorities about the conservation status of marine species that could have helped them know what they need to do if they accidentally catch vulnerable and endangered species. It is the sea that teaches them everything, they say.

The fishermen were visibly hurt about the fact that no government official had visited them, although their catch had made a big splash in the media.

“We are all very poor and can barely make ends meet. We got nothing from the catch that we dragged almost at the cost of our life for an entire day — not even a congratulatory remark from an official. Our travel expenses for a trip are much higher than the amount of Rs200,000 we received from the middleman who bought the fish,” complains Mohammad Haroon.

Everyone who is involved in fishing or any business activity on the harbour is caught in a vicious cycle of debt and there seems to be no hope of things getting any better for the poor, he adds.

“Fishing is like a lottery. Sometimes you get a good catch and, at times, there is none,” remarks Dilawar.

Their bigger problem at present, however, is the seizure of their travel documents by the Maritime Security Agency (MSA). None of them can go fishing again without the documents.

“In a hurry to take the fish to the city harbour, we didn’t stop at the MSA post for checking. Later, the agency interrogated me and kept my papers. Please help us get our papers back at least,” says Dilawar.

Being of Bengali descent already puts them at a disadvantage, they say, and despite living in Pakistan for many years they are still deprived of citizenship.

In contrast to the fishermen’s plight, Haji Qasim, the man who bought the fish, seemed happier with the amount (Rs500,000) he received from fisheries authorities.

“I also earned about Rs65,000 from the Rs20 ticket I charged the public for a day to view the fish,” he says.

“The last time I bought the same species was way back in 1998. I took it to the Clifton beach, but the DHA authorities didn’t allow me to charge the public and the fish was buried after its liver was taken out.”