Diu: The sleepy town of Diu awoke yesterday to the spectacle of a life-sized model of the whale shark, welcoming hundreds of school children to a day of fun near the ancient fort, which culminated in the Diu Municipal Council adopting Vhali, the whale shark as the city mascot.

The city of Porbandar pioneered this gesture when thousands of people took a public pledge to protect the whale shark and the president of the city municipal council, Mrs. Jeeviben Shiyal adopted the whale shark as the mascot of Porbandar on 23 May this year. Earlier, in another first, the popular religious leader Morari Bapu was appointed an ambassador for the whale shark and agreed to include it in his discourses on the Ramayana, drawing immense public response. This is the first time a religious leader has supported the cause of conservation.

By noon, a thousand school children from seven schools in and around Diu trooped in to the Government Higher Secondary School and participated enthusiastically in games and activities specially designed to create awareness and a feeling of pride among the people of Gujarat on the existence of the world’s biggest fish off the shores of their homeland.

This day out with the whale shark was organized by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in association with the Centre for Environmental Education (CEE).CEE is the resource agency in Diu for the National Green Corps (NGC) programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. The NGC involves schools in activities to promote awareness on the environment through eco clubs. The campaign to spread awareness about the world’s largest fish is being spearheaded by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and its partner, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and is being supported by two major corporate houses with units in the state, Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Limited and Tata Chemicals Limited.

The 40 ft life-sized inflatable model of the world’s largest fish is designed to be the backdrop for a series of street plays on the whale shark, which are a part of the campaign to give the people of Gujarat a feeling of pride for this fish. “The inflatable model of the whale shark, christened Vhali, is an instant draw,” said Dhiresh Joshi, the Campaigns Manager for the Whale Shark Campaign. “Both young and old are fascinated by its sheer size and many people find it hard to believe that a fish of these dimensions really exists in the waters off their own shores”, added Joshi.

Some popular games, such as darts, snakes and ladders and jigsaw puzzles were imaginatively redesigned to incorporate the theme on whale shark conservation. The dart game was a hit with the boys. After the games the children were shown a short film on the whale shark. As part of the campaign, drawing competitions are on in various schools all over Gujarat . The display of the drawings on the whale shark from different schools was put up and viewed by the children.

After this exposure to the whale shark, the children were free to bring out their feelings on a canvas which made up the sonata painting. “A sonata painting is a work of art by the combined effort of individuals; this time it was on the whale shark theme and it was on a 5ft x6ft cloth. While the boys enjoyed the dart game, the sonata painting was dominated by girls”, informed Joshi.

Dr Kamaliya, the president of the Diu Municipal Council then publicly signed the certificate adopting the whale shark as the mascot of Diu . Commandant A.N. Chaudhari of the Coast Guard led the 1000 students and the officials present in a pledge to protect the whale shark and welcome the fish as a loved guest to the shores of Gujarat .

Among those present at the event were Ramnikbhai Bambniya, Mamlatdar; J.J. Solanki, City Survey Officer; M.N. Vanesa, District Education Officer; Ramjibhai Chauhan, Principal of the host school and Lakshmanbhai Solanki, President of the Fishermen’s Association.

Volunteers from the CEE coordinated with the participating schools and managed the games. WTI aims to reach out to people in Gujarat through more such events and hit the bull’s eye of “ Save the Whale Shark” as in the dart game through the active participation of people and the support of policy and decision makers.