Fishermen Felicitated by ICAR-CMFRI for Saving Endangered Whale Shark

The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) in Kochi has felicitated fishermen from Calicut for their brave efforts for saving an endangered Whale Shark also known as Rhincodon typus on the occasion of ICAR-CMFRI’s 73rd Foundation Day celebrations last week.

To conserve the endangered marine species CMFRI had conducted the awareness campaign to motivate fishermen to save the shark.

In a huge impact of the awareness programmes, the shark that accidentally got trapped in the trawl boat was sent back into the sea in a dramatic rescue by nine fishermen who set-off to the sea from Puthiyappa. The whale shark has been saved under the Schedule - 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act.

The fishermen had to cut the trawl net worth Rs. 1 lakh for rescuing the Whale Shark and the operation took nearly 4 hours. It will cost Rs. 40,000/- to repair the damaged net. The two fishermen also sustained minor injuries while releasing the endangered shark measuring about 5m in length and weighed around 900 - 1,000 kg.

The Institute regularly organizes awareness programme on conservation of protected Elasmobranchs. Besides these, the Institute had conducted a workshop on the International Whale Shark Day at Ponnani on 30th August, 2019 and another at Calicut on 24th September, 2019.