Tuna gillnet fishery of Pakistan employs more than 500 fishing boats that operate in offshore waters. In addition to tuna, gillnet also catches large quantities of by-catch fish species including billfishes, pelagic sharks, dolphin fishes as well as marine turtles and cetaceans, which are protected species. High by-catch of these non-target animals affects their population in the area. The paper provides information on by-catch and suggests measures that can be adopted as alternate fishing methods to minimize mortality of endangered and threatened cetaceans and turtles.

Tuna gillnet by-catch, enmeshment, mortality, cetaceans, sharks, turtles, whale shark.