New Delhi: Fishermen have saved yet another whale shark in the Western Indian state of Gujarat, making it the fifth such case in less than two months, a trend which is being attributed to the Wildlife Trust of India’s effective Whale Shark Campaign.

In the latest incident on April 10, a 35-feet-long whale shark was released from nets, about fifty nautical miles off the coast of Veraval.

“When fisherman Naran Raghavji Vandar saw the fish entangled in his nets, he immediately informed the officials and initiated steps for its rescue.” Dhiresh Joshi, Manager of the Campaign in Gujarat said.

“We had to cut 18 nets to release the fish, which took about 2 hours.” J. K. Rathod of the fisheries department said.

In the past, these gentle giants were mercilessly slaughtered by these very fishermen to supplement their incomes.

Whale sharks used to be known as “barrel”, a callous reference to the hunting technique used to kill this fish. But now, thanks to rigorous campaigning among the fisher folk attitudes have changed and the fisher folk now welcome the whale shark back to their shores with the term of endearment vhali meaning dear one.

To compensate the fishermen for the loss of their nets, the government had announced a cash reward of rupees 25000 for every verified rescue incident.

WTI and its partners the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) supported by Tata Chemicals Ltd, Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd and the Gujarat Forest Department initiated this campaign in the year 2004, to spread awareness among the fishing community in the state, on the endangered status of this fish.