Annually World Ocean’s Day is celebrated on the sixth of June all over the world. Wildlife Trust of India’s marine conservation projects in Gujarat celebrated this year’s World Ocean’s Day in association with Anand Niketan school and Rotary Club of Bharuch on June 11, 2022. Bharuch district collector Shri. Tushar Sumera IAS and member of the legislative assembly chaired the event along with Shri. Dushyantbhai R Patel, Director of Anand Niketan School; Ms. Lamiya Shums, President of Rotary Club of Bharuch; Dr. Vikram Premkumar and WTI’s Whale Shark project team members, Mr. Farukhkha Bloch and Mr. Charan Kumar.

About 1000 individuals including students, teachers, parents, media representatives, and other civilians of Bharuch city attended the celebration.

Gathering at Anand Niketan School on World Ocean’s Day

During the inaugural ceremony, Ms. Lamiya Shums (Director, ANS) mentioned the importance of education and its contribution to nature conservation and natural resources. In continuation to this, she also emphasized the role of organizations like WTI and the Government departments working in the field of nature conservation.

The district collector appreciated the organizers of this event and draw the focus of people to the topic ‘Why ocean matters to all lives on earth?’. He also congratulated the WTI team and the project partners for the successful conservation interventions for the protection of whale sharks in the state of Gujarat.

Dist. Colloctor Shri. Tushar Sumera addressing the gathering at Anand Niketan School

Shri. Dushyantbhai Patel, MLA Bharuch assured his support for ongoing and future conservation needs and appealed to the participants to take the pledge in keeping our oceans neat and clean by not littering them with any kind of waste.

Mr. Farukhkha Bloch with the delegates near the life-sized whale shark inflatable model

Mr. Farukhkha Bloch and Charan Kumar delivered a talk on ‘How the integrated efforts and co-management of WTI-GFD-TCL has managed to establish a successful community-led conservation model for whale sharks and coral reef restoration on the coast of Gujarat’. They also acknowledged the support and cooperation of all the project partners including the Gujarat Forest Department, Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL), Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development (TCSRD), C-Scapes, and the fisher communities.

As a part of the event, a life-sized whale shark inflatable model was installed and unveiled by the district collector and Bharuch MLA. Marine theme-based games and activities were conducted for the students and teachers to test and enrich their knowledge of marine life creatures.

WTI launched the widely-acclaimed whale shark campaign and the coral reef recovery project in 2004 and 2008 respectively to spread awareness of the protected status of the species and its conservation among coastal communities in Gujarat.