AHMEDABAD, INDIA, February 18: Efforts of a religious leader who joined hands with wild life activists has helped in the conservation of the whale shark on the Saurashtra coast of the state. The whale shark is largest living fish species, so named because it is as “big as a whale.” The largest on record was 41.5 long and weighed 21.5 tons. They may live as long as 150 years. The whale shark used to be extensively hunted in 1980s and 90s for trade until the species was in danger of becoming locally extinct, explained Dhiresh Joshi of Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). He, along with the state forest department, launched a campaign to save it. In 2000, when the marine mammal was included in Schedule 1 of Wild Life protection act by the Union Forest Ministry, hunting went down, but it continued in some pockets, wildlife activists said. Joshi said they had appealed to Morari Bapu, a prominent religious leader, to support their cause of saving the whale shark, which comes for breeding to the Saurasthra coast from Australia. Bapu immediately agreed to lend support to their campaign in 2004.
“Earlier, we used to tell fishermen that they will be punished as per the law if they continue with the hunting of the whale shark,” Joshi said. “However, Morari Bapu brought an emotional angle to the campaign of saving the whale shark. His appeal to fishermen has gone down very well with the community,” Joshi said. Joshi added that no case of hunting of whale shark has been reported in the last two years. In his appeal Bapu told fishermen to stop the killing of whale shark, which comes to breed in the Saurasthra coast and is also a vegetarian (filtering plankton and the like through its mouth and gills). Bapu named the fish “Vhali” (loved one) to popularize it. Gujarat Forest Minister Mangubhai Patel declared Kartik-purnima (full moon day of month of karthik as per Hindu calendar) as a “whale shark day.” Every year this day will be celebrated with the fishermen community, he added.