Sawfish more threatened than tigers:

Sawfish more threatened than tigers:

Context:

• Today, the sawfish is seen to have a population of less than 10 times in over a decade and they appear to be more threatened than tigers and elephants.

What are Sawfishes?

• Sawfishes, also known as carpenter sharks.
• The sawfish’s most distinctive feature is the saw-like rostrum, covered with electro-sensitive pores that allow the sawfish to detect slight movements of prey hiding in the muddy sea floor.
• There are only five species of the sawfish ever identified — dwarf sawfish, knifetooth sawfish, smalltooth sawfish, largetooth sawfish and green sawfish.
• These fishes are found in parts of the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and Indo-Pacific.

Why are Sawfishes important?

• Sawfishes are important members of tropical and subtropical estuarine communities.
• Like other top predators, sawfishes perform a valuable function in culling out sick or injured prey species such as schooling fishes, crustaceans, and cephalopods.
• In addition, sawfishes have for centuries been important to humankind both as valuable food and medicinal resources, and as religious and cultural symbols.

Sawfishes in the context of India:

• The sawfish is included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
• It is enacted to save them from exploitation.
• The Wildlife Act was passed in 1972 to protect the wildlife and their habitats.
• The habitat destruction due to agriculture, industries, urbanisation and other human activities had led to the erosion of the country’s wildlife.
• Under the Act, comprehensive listing of endangered wildlife species was done for the first time and prohibition of hunting of the endangered species was mentioned.
• But in spite of these legal protections, all species of sawfishes are listed as critically endangered or endangered, and risk extinction, as their populations have declined to less than 10%.

Why is it threatened?

• Primarily, the sawfish reduced drastically due to overfishing and habitat loss.
• Depressed population size, continued restricted range, and incidental captures add on to its threats.   
• Natural threats to sawfishes are poorly known, but include predation by sharks and other large predators, and mortality attributable to red tide.

What are the necessary measures to be taken?

• There is a need of a concrete research work and protection offered to these endangered species.
• The government machinery, including the fisheries department and coastal police, should find out how these fishes are caught and if any illegal practice is followed, then it should take appropriate action because it is an endangered species.
• Circulars are to provided to fishermen’s cooperatives to release such species if caught by accident