On the occasion of International Whale Shark Day, Tata Chemicals Ltd today signed an MoU with Wildlife Trust of India and Gujarat forest department for an initiative for conservation of this largest fish species off the Gujarat coast.
The conservation effort involves persuading the fishermen to release the fish when it gets entangled in their nets.
"When you are protecting the whale shark you are not only protecting the marine eco-system but also terrestrial eco-system. Bulk of the planet Earth is in marine eco-system and not terrestrial," TCL Managing Director R Mukundan said.
Cooperation of the fishermen is crucial for the project, he asserted.
WTI CEO Suresh Menon said, "Normally for conservation project, people first make a project (plan), then they go for funds, then they implement and then they see the results.
"Here we have seen the instant results as we went to Morari Bapu (Gujarat-based religious leader) and asked him to pass on the message. He just made one statement that killing of whale-shark is 'Dev Hatya' (killing of a god) and the entire species could now be saved," he added.
Additional secretary, forest department, P K Taneja said that the conservation programme should be expanded to cover other marine species like sea-turtles too.
Fishermen have demanded that compensation paid to them to release a shark whale should be increased. "The amount, at present around Rs 25,000, should be increased as we have to cut the entire net while releasing a whale shark," said Dineshgiri Goswami, a fisherman from Junagadh, adding that Rs 25,000 can not buy a new net.
Another fisherman, Jayanti Baira, said the fishermen should be insured because they may get injured while releasing the fish.
