Churna Island
| Native name: جزیرہ چرنا Nickname: Cheerno | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Churna Island  Churna Island | |
| Etymology | Charna (to sprinkle) |
| Geography | |
| Location | Mubarak Goth, Kiamari Town, Karachi |
| Coordinates | 24°54′N 66°36′E / 24.900°N 66.600°E |
| Area | 0.60000 km2 (0.23166 sq mi) |
| Length | 1.2 km (0.75 mi) |
| Width | 0.5 km (0.31 mi) |
Charna Island[1] (Urdu: جزیرہ چرنا) is located near Mubarak Goth, Kiamari Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Churna Island is a small uninhabited island located in the Arabian Sea, about 9 km (5.6 mi) west of the mouth of the Hub river called "Manjhar Beach", at the boundary between the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. Charna is approximately 1.2 km (0.75 mi) long and 0.5 km (0.31 mi) wide. Charna is also locally known "Cheerno" and "Charna". It is 6 km away from Mubarak Village. In winters (September to April) Local and foreigner tourist use to visit for adventure activities like Snorkeling, Cliff Diving, Scuba Diving, Spearfishing, Fishing & Underwater photography with tour operator. Fishermen of Mubarak Goth go for fishing near the Charna Island. There are many species of fish, crabs and lobsters. Anglers take boats to go Island from Mubarak Goth. Mubarak Goth is a second largest fishermen locality in Karachi, which lacks facilities including education, health, jetty, ownership rights and communication etc."[2]
Background
Churna is mostly used as a firing range by the Pakistan Navy. It is famous for water sports such as for scuba diving, freediving, underwater photography, hiking, speed boating, kneeboarding, Wakesurfing, banana tubing, jet skiing, cliff diving and snorkeling.[2]
The area surrounding Charna is popular for scuba diving because of the presence of widely varied marine life and different kinds of coral reef. Some claim that "there are more than 60 types of corals found near Charna waters and many new corals started to flourish after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It also boasts of jellyfish that are found in large numbers during October. The environment is especially popular for being peaceful and clean."[3]
Wildlife
On 14 September 2017, a mother blue whale was spotted near the island along with her cub. The mother was 17 meters in length. This was a first sighting of a living blue whale in the Pakistani sea, as previous blue whales were just beached skeleton of the dead whales with last specimen was observed at Khuddi Creek along the coast of Sindh in August 2014. There have been 47 sightings of Baleen whales in this area but none of them was blue whale.[4] On 22 November 2017, a killer whale was spotted near the island, it is a rare sighting as killer whales are found in deep water where as thedepth of the water where the whale was sighted was only 72 meters deep. It was also first sighting of killer whale in Karachi as no killer whale was reported in this area since 2003.[5] Other marine life around Charna includes yellow-bellied sea snake, great barracuda, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, cobia, mahi-mahi, skipjack tuna, angel fish, sea urchin, sea fan, oyster, ray fish and rare green turtle. Pakistan Game Fishing Association (PGFA) holds national angling competitions near Charna. It is the presence of coral reefs around this island that attracts the number of big game fish around it. However, illegal net sizes used by fishing trawlers are destroying this natural treasure.
See also
References
- ↑ Island, CHurna. "Churna Island Official Website". Churna island information.
- 1 2 "Churna Island". Churnaisland.com. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
- ↑ "Pakistan observes International Reef Cleaning Day". Defence.pk. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
- ↑ Kazi, Mudaser (15 September 2017). "Giant blue whale, calf sighted near Karachi waters". tribune.com.pk. Tribune. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ↑ Imran, Warda (23 November 2017). "Karachi welcomes sighting of first killer whale at Churna Island". tribune.com.pk. Tribune. Retrieved 22 February 2018.