Karnataka unveils whale shark conservation drive to create awareness

To sensitise fishermen about the need to save whale sharks, a campaign called ‘Save the Whale Shark’ was launched in Karnataka by the Minister for Fisheries, Port and Inland Water Transport S Angara.

The state’s campaign is a joint venture of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), and the forest and fisheries departments.

The ‘Save the Whale Shark’ aims to connect marine fisher folks, village communities and students to create awareness for the conservation of the whale shark, the largest extant fish species. The campaign also aims to reduce the accidental entanglements of the whale shark in fishing nets—by teaching fishermen about releasing them back to the water.

“There is a mobile application that has been developed to record whale shark spotting and rescue for further conservation action,” said WTI founder and executive director Vivek Menon.

Menon also said the only way to curb the accidental mortality of the big fish species is to ensure the release of the entangled whale sharks from the fishing net without any delay.

“WTI initiated a whale shark conservation project along Kerala (coast) and Lakshadweep islands with the support of Cochin Shipyard Ltd during 2017. Following this, two whale sharks were released by the fishermen. Whale shark conservation initiated along the Gujarat coast 20 years ago was a great success, with the fishermen voluntarily rescuing and releasing over 800 whale sharks caught accidentally from fishing nets,” he said.

Trawler boat fishermen union president Chetan Bengre said: “Fishermen consider whale sharks as God. There is a need to create awareness among the younger generation of fishermen about conservation.”

A WTI survey in 2004 revealed that the level of awareness among fishermen about the protected status, and poaching, of whale sharks to be as low as 19 per cent in Gujarat, where around 500 whale sharks used to be killed annually in the past.

Minister Angara stressed the need for conserving the whale sharks, as well as native species of the fish that are on the verge of extinction in inland water bodies in Dakshina Kannada. According to him, there were more than 50 native fish species in freshwater in the district, which were all under the threat of extinction.

The whale shark has the highest level of protection as a Schedule I Species in Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, said Clifford Lobo, deputy conservator of forests (social forestry). He then revealed that a national plan of action was submitted to the Union government in 2015, about whale shark conservation, which was yet to be approved.

He was hopeful that once approved, more of such activities could be taken up. There have been no incidents of whale sharks being caught by the fishermen in the last 10 years in Dakshin Kannada and Udupi, Lobo said.

In related news, Lobo also revealed that there would soon be a tree park in Kundapura, with a focus on marine diversity—where the park will have sculptures of endangered and Schedule 1 enlisted fish species. He said the proposal was approved by the government.