ISLAMABAD: Churan Island the scenic and unique adventure sports tourism attraction offering unforgettable experience of corals and water sports is facing depletion due to damage bore by the unique marine life existing in the Coastline.
Corals are one of the most productive ecosystems that are found at thriving scale at different coasts around the globe whereas in Pakistan, they are found in limited and isolated patches around 990 kilometers long coastline of the country, said Senior Technical Advisor to WWF-Pakistan Muhammad Moazzam Khan in an exclusive interaction with APP who had also coauthored an special report highlighting emerging threats to Corals in the area.
He told that apparently corals were healthy in Churna Island where an individual in 2020 observed coral degradation at Mubarak Village on Sindh coast.
In the north-eastern part of Churna Island during October 2020, bleaching was observed whereas in some areas, large patches of bleaching were observed which limited in some other parts, he added.
There has been complete bleaching of Porites which has turned them totally white indicating that it is already dead because of bleaching. It seems that bleaching is spreading around Chuma Island, however, there is no information and record of similar bleaching from other areas along the coast of Pakistan, he added.
Khan said coral reef is a complete ecosystem and was a dominating one found in Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia and other countries around the globe.
He said, “Corals have a great significance due to ecotourism and its protection is necessary both to ensure marine life protection, sustainable growth of environment and preserving a flourishing source of employment through ecotourism.”
Elaborating the phenomenon of Coral Bleaching, he said negative environmental conditions, such as abnormally warm or cool temperatures, high light, and even some microbial diseases, can lead to the breakdown of the relationship (symbiosis) between coral and zooxanthellae.
“In such conditions, corals expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching,” he told.
Although, he said coral do not die immediately and can survive a bleaching event, but begin to starve after bleaching.
In his report, Moazzam Khan told that Dr Amjad Ali of Centre of Excellence in Marina Biology, University of Karachi and his co-workers in 2014 worked extensively on corals of Pakistan and reported a total of 29 hard coral species, one black coral species and eight soft coral species were recorded from nine locations along the coastline.
In 1987, he said during visit to Australia by senior author, the reasons for the absence of coral reefs in Pakistan was discussed with leading coral scientists in major universities in Cairns, Sydney and Canberra, Australia.
“They attributed limited and patchy distribution or corals and absence of true coral reefs along Pakistan coast to the lower temperature during winter (approaching about 20C) and extreme turbidity (limiting light availability for symbiotic algae) during monsoon months (mid May to October),” he said.
There were industrial activities in the area which included a thermal power plant, an oil refinery and a single point mooring (SPM) in the area, he told.
“Another coal powered plant is being established for which infrastructure is being developed. Cumulative impacts of these activities may be responsible for coral bleaching in the Churna Island. There are plans in place to establish liquid petroleum gas (LPG) terminal at Churna Island which will incur excessive dredging in the area. If such facilities are established at Churna Island, its impacts will not be confined only to coral bleaching but it will wipe out coral from the area,” he warned.
Khan mentioned that Churna Island in past few years became a major attraction for recreational purposes particularly for snorkelling and SCUBA diving.
A number of tour operators and SCUBA diver clubs offer services for providing underwater tourism in the area.
“It is estimated that about 500 to 1500 people from Karachi and other area visit Churna Island weekly (especially on weekend) for underground water sports,” he said.
“There are a few groups which lack trained guides, therefore, the amature divers do not care about sensitive nature of corals and trample or disturb them. There have been reports of many unprofessional SCUBA divers and snorkelers which trample on sensitive coral surface,” he added.
“Pollution is also increasing in the area of Churna Island because of the Industrial activity which is evident from floating garbage in the area. Similarly effluents from the industries established in the area can be an extra burden on the delicate coral ecosystem,” he said.
In his report, Moazzam Khan said the damage could be stopped and repaired through declaration of Churna Island as a Marine Protected Area (MPA).
Once declared, he said as a MPA, industrial activities would be controlled as well as streamlined uncontrolled tourism in the area. “There is also a need to keep a vigil on the process of bleaching and in case of any major increase, effective mitigation measures are required to be taken,” he said.

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