Kochi: Fishermen on Malappuram coast have returned a one-ton whale shark to its habitat after they had netted it on realising that it belonged to an endangered species. This was the first effort of saving a whale on the Kerala sea coast, after the project for whale shark conservation was launched by Wildlife Trust of India with the Cochin Shipyard.
The fishermen had to stop fishing as the huge shark landed in their net. As the net could not be cut open in the sea, they had to drag it all the way to the shore. After the whale was taken out, it was then delivered into the sea, after dragging it all the way back.
Shark whales have been brought to the shore earlier also, but none of them survived.
The conservation of whale sharks in India has been taken up by a team led by Thoppumpady-native Sajan John, a manager of the marine projects of Wildlife Trust of India.
Quiet giant
Whale shark is seen here and there on the Indian coast. Hunters used to chase it on the Gujarat coast, but the Wildlife Trust intervened to stop it. Fishermen in Gujarat are now major protectors of the species. The whale shark, which has a reputation as the 'quiet giant' of the sea, is found mostly off the Saurashtra coast of Gujarat.
Blue whales are the biggest among mammals, and whale sharks the biggest in the fish category. A full-grown one could be as long as 40 feet and could weigh up to 40 ton. It could live up to 100 years, but reproduction is so limited, starting only after 25 years. Its meat is not edible.
It has been listed as an endangered species because of hunting and the effects of climate change.
