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Whale shark finds friends in Indian fishermen
Indian fishermen in the Arabian Sea thought they had the biggest catch of their lives, a 40-foot-long whale shark. But instead of killing it, they let it go.
A few weeks ago, the crew of an Indian fishing boat in the Arabian Sea thought they had the biggest catch of their lives.
A 40-foot (14-metre) -long unsuspecting whale shark had entered their nets on a still night.
But instead of killing the creature, known as the gentle ocean giant, the captain called the boat owner who promptly told him to let it go.
"I may have lost a lot of money. But I'm happy that I could play a role in saving the protected fish," Kamlesh Chamadia, the boat owner said.
Two years ago, Chamadia, like hundreds of other fishermen along the Saurashtra coast of India's western Gujarat state, would have had little hesitation in killing whale sharks.
But a lively campaign by a wildlife group and a popular religious leader has helped reduce the killing of the world's largest fish (Rhincodon typus) which migrate to the Indian coast to breed from faraway Africa.
Despite a government ban in 2001, Indian fishermen slaughter at least 1,000 whale sharks every year and make a fortune by exporting the fins, meat and oil to Southeast Asia, wildlife activists say.
