Porbandar (Gujarat): A huge crowd gathered today at the Chowpatti cricket ground in Porbandar, Gujarat, for the annual ‘whale shark day’ celebrations.
Students, local fishermen, Indian as well as international marine experts and other stake holders were among the participants, who congregated to celebrate the existence and protection of whale sharks along Gujarat’s coast and to assert their support to its conservation. A film crew from Australia were also here to document this celebration, to mark the success of the four year old whale shark campaign in Gujarat.
The ‘whale shark day’ is a part of the internationally-acclaimed whale shark campaign, a joint venture of the Gujarat Forest Department, Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) and Wildlife Trust of India – International Fund for Animal Welfare (WTI-IFAW). This special day for the whale shark on Kartik Amas was declared by the State Forest Minister, Mangubhai Patel on February 17, 2007, to celebrate the success of the campaign, making whale shark the first animal with a day in its honour.
‘Whale shark day 2008 or Vhali Utsav‘ (as it is locally called) began with a colourful procession, in support of ‘Vhali’-the dear one. Led by the campaign’s flagship life-size whale shark inflatable mounted on a camel cart, about 1000 students dressed in symbolic whale shark coloured t-shirts, holding whale shark campaign flags rallied across Porbandar from Kirti Nagar to Chowpatti cricket ground. At the venue, whale shark coloured balloons brightened up the celebration in honour of the species.
Hunted brutally, a decade ago, the whale shark was placed under schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, on May 28, 2001, a development triggered by the award-winning documentary ‘Shores of Silence’ by Mike Pandey. However, despite the legal protection, ground realities indicated persistent threats to the species from its commercial exploitation as a result of low awareness levels.
The whale shark campaign was launched in January 2004 to spread awareness, educate and change perceptions about the world’s largest fish among specific target groups in Gujarat in western India. The campaign was a combination of several key ideas – effective dissemination of information on the species, creation of a flagship using a lifesize whale shark inflatable that drew people wherever it was taken, emotional connection to the tradition and cultural ethics of local people and fishing communities by the spiritual ambassador Morari Bapu, and a huge groundswell of response generated from young people and schoolchildren.
Within a year of its launch, the campaign successfully converted former whale shark hunters into its protectors, convincing them to voluntarily release accidentally-trapped whale sharks from their fishing nets. The government’s initiative to compensate fishermen for the loss of their nets, which is almost always unavoidable in such rescues, helped strengthen the effort.
“The success of the whale shark campaign, credited to the people of Gujarat, has been noticed and appreciated by the government and conservationists around the world,” said Vivek Menon, Executive Director, WTI. “In India, tiger conservation has been going on for over three decades now; but, we are still trying to save the tiger which is being persecuted even today. However, only four years since the beginning of the campaign, Gujarat’s people have saved the whale shark in its shores. Whale shark has become the pride of Gujarat too, in addition to the Asiatic lion.”
Pradeep Khanna, PCCF and CWW, Gujarat said, “A unique voluntary conservation programme has evolved in this part of the world. Significance of the programme lies in the fact that the people who derived their livelihood from hunting have turned into conservationists. It is an example of how a community when motivated and convinced can achieve what seemed unrealistic until recently. Gujarat has the tradition of community action and this is one example in recent times. It represents the lively attitude of the community that allows it to rise to the need of the hour. It is because of these traditions, culture and community action that wildlife is thriving in Gujarat, while the state is on a high growth trajectory.”
As part of the celebrations today, the Gujarat forest department compensated fishermen who have lost their nets while releasing trapped whale sharks; miniature model whale shark mementoes were also given to several people who have contributed to whale shark conservation through its rescue and release. The event also marked the launch of the report “Turning the Tide” which captures the efforts of the campaign, as well as the local and international successes of the whale shark campaign. The 2008 whale shark function also includes Wildlife Trust of India’s year-long anniversary celebration of ’10 years in Service of Nature’.
Based on the campaign’s success, the Gujarat Forest Department, TCL and WTI-IFAW are now venturing into the scientific aspect of whale shark conservation. During an event held at Ahmedabad, early last week, two MoU were signed between the Gujarat Forest Department and WTI as well as TCL and WTI. Supported by a Rs.2 crore fund by Tata Chemicals Limited, the research on whale shark science and coral reef conservation will be conducted by Wildlife Trust of India with the support of the Gujarat Forest Department and technical expertise from National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and international marine experts.
M Jacob, Vice-chairman manufacturing, TCL said, “TCL’s core values are to care for the country, environment and people. For over four years, we have been protecting the whale shark through the campaign. We are now beginning the second phase in whale shark conservation (the first being the awareness generation)- collecting scientific data on the whale sharks and to promote sustainable whale shark tourism to benefit the whale shark as well as the people who save them.”
Appealing to the people to keep continuing their efforts, Menon added, “We are taking the whale shark conservation to another level. Through research, we will try and answer your questions about the population, distribution and other aspects of whale shark ecology, to help improve the efforts for its protection.”
The whale shark day was preceded by a series of meetings of the scientific advisory council (SAC) members as well as the governing council (GC) members, to chalk out details for implementing the research on whale sharks and coral reefs. The SAC members, in addition to WTI-IFAW, TCL, and coast guard representatives, included Indian as well as international marine experts who explained and discussed research techniques in practice internationally and whale shark tourism opportunities, and their feasibility in the Indian context. The GC members included forest department authorities including Dr SK Nanda, Pradeep Khanna and MM Sharma, Conservator of Forests, Junagadh.
Learn more about Whale Shark Campaign
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