Whale shark rescued from fisherman's nets in India

28/04/2010 21:25:29 India begins contributing to global whale shark research; first individual identified in Gujarat
April 2010. With scientific studies on whale sharks recently launched in Gujarat, Indian marine conservationists have identified the country's first individual whale shark.

The identification process employed underwater photography and subsequent comparison of the photographs in a global database of whale sharks reported and identified from more than 40 countries across the world. Pattern of spots around the pectoral fins and gills region is used to identify individual whale sharks.

Whale shark rescued from fisherman's nets
The underwater photographs were taken during a whale shark rescue operation carried out by a team of Gujarati fishermen, Forest officials and biologists from WTI. The whale shark had been accidentally caught in a fishing net off the Veraval coast, however, continuing a trend initiated several years ago following the massively successful Save the Whale Shark Campaign, the local fishermen and the boat owner, Nathalal Govind Mandvi, cut open their fishing net to release the shark.

The whale shark had been accidentally caught in a fishing net off the Veraval coast, however, continuing a trend initiated several years ago following the massively successful Save the Whale Shark Campaign, the local fishermen and the boat owner, Nathalal Govind Mandvi, cut open their fishing net to release the shark.  Photo credit WTI

"As this whale shark was the first to be identified in India, it has been labelled I-001 (which is now the permanent identification for this individual). The whale shark photo-identification is being done in a lot of other countries, but this individual has not been recorded elsewhere. As the research progresses we will be trying to figure out if this individual as well as others that we encounter in the future, belong to a resident population or are migratory," said Dhiresh Joshi, Coordinator, WTI

Whale Shark Conservation Project
The photo-identification exercise is a component of the Whale Shark Conservation Project - a joint venture of the Gujarat Forest Department, the Tata Chemicals Limited and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). Aimed at studying the population and migration of whale sharks, the photo-identification is being implemented in collaboration with ECOCEAN, which maintains the global whale shark databasethe research on this very beautiful species - the Gentle Giant - "Our Vhali". We hope that this first is a beginning that will lead us to identification on many more individuals and will help the international community join the dots for creating an indepth understanding about the whale sharks," said Alka Talwar, Head - Community Development, TCL.
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