Wildlife Trust of India to launch year-long ‘save the Whale Shark campaign’ in Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep on August 30

The campaign will be inaugurated in Mangaluru

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), a nature conservation organisation, will launch a ‘save the Whale Shark campaign’ in Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep on the occasion of International Whale Shark Day on August 30.

The Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) is the largest fish on earth, and a keystone species in marine ecosystem. It can grow to a length of approximately 18 metres and weigh as much as 21 tonnes.

Although distributed widely across tropical and warm temperate seas, limited information is available on the population trends of this species, especially along the Indian coastline. The big fish has the highest level of protection as a Schedule I Species in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Minister for Ports, Fisheries and Inland Water Transport S. Angara will inaugurate the year-long campaign at Milagres Hall in Mangaluru on August 30.

The campaign will run along coastal Karnataka, Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands in collaboration with the Forest and Fisheries Departments of Karnataka, Kerala and the Lakshadweep administration. The campaign aims to connect marine fisher folk, village communities and students for conservation awareness on the Whale Shark.

Further, the campaign aims to reduce accidental entanglements in fishing nets with fishermen releasing whale shark. A mobile application has been developed to record whale shark spotting and rescues for further conservation action.

A similar WTI project, operational in Gujarat for the last 20 years, has resulted in fisher folk releasing over 900 whale sharks in the Arabian Sea. All the fishermen who have rescued the big fish have been made Whale Shark Conservation Champions.