Whale Shark Conservation Programme

What is the Whale Shark Conservation Programme?

Whale Shark Conservation Programme is a species-protection and community compensation initiative of the Gujarat Forest Department, run through the Wildlife Circle at Junagadh under the Forests and Environment Department, Government of Gujarat. The programme protects the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), the world's largest fish, in the waters off Gujarat, and it does so by paying the fishing communities that share those waters instead of only policing them.

According to the Gujarat Forest Department, the Ministry of Environment and Forest granted full legal protection to the whale shark on 28 May 2001 by adding the species to Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. That made the whale shark the first fish in India to be protected by law. Before that date the species was hunted commercially off Saurashtra for its liver oil, meat and fins.

Legal protection alone created a new problem. A whale shark that swims into a gill net is enormous, and freeing it means cutting a net that may be a fisherman's single most valuable asset. Left to the fisherman's own pocket, the rational choice was to abandon the animal or to say nothing. The Gujarat government therefore issued a compensation order; GR number walp-20.06-1461-g-1 dated 21 December 2006, providing up to Rs 25,000 for a fishing net damaged while releasing a trapped whale shark.

What the programme does

• Compensates fishermen up to Rs 25,000 for nets cut during a whale shark release, so that rescue costs the fisherman nothing.
• Records and verifies each rescue through the range forest staff, building a long-term dataset on whale shark occurrence off Gujarat.
• Runs awareness work in the Kharva and Koli fishing communities of Veraval, Sutrapada and Mangrol talukas in Junagadh district.
• Works with Wildlife Trust of India and Tata Chemicals as partners alongside the Forest Department.

The Junagadh Forest Division has recorded 412 whale sharks rescued and released under the programme.

Why is the whale shark called Vhali in Gujarat?

The campaign's single most effective element was not a rule but a story. The religious leader Morari Bapu became the programme's ambassador and framed the whale shark's seasonal arrival off Saurashtra as a daughter returning to her parental home to deliver her young. Fishermen began calling the animal Vhali, meaning "the dear one". A protected fish became a guest, and cutting a net to free her became a matter of honour rather than a loss.

Whale sharks aggregate off the Gujarat coast seasonally, which is why Gujarat, and not most of the rest of the Indian coastline; carries this programme. The animal is a filter feeder, harmless to people, and gets trapped incidentally in nets rather than being targeted.

Who is eligible for compensation under the programme?

You can claim if:

• You are a registered fisherman operating along the Gujarat coast, with a registered boat and a fisheries licence or registration.
• A whale shark was trapped alive in your net during fishing.
• The animal was released alive, and your net was cut or damaged in the process.
• You documented the incident — a photograph or video of the trapped animal is the core evidence, and reported it to the forest staff.
• You have a bank account in your own name for the payment.

You cannot claim if:

• You are not a registered fisherman or the boat is unregistered, casual crew who do not own the damaged net are not eligible to claim in their own name.
• The whale shark was hunted, killed, sold or traded. That is a Schedule I offence under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and attracts prosecution, not compensation.
• The incident was never reported and no photograph, video or forest record exists to verify it.
• The damage claimed is ordinary wear and tear on a net, not damage caused by cutting the net during a release.

Note that this is not a scheme with an annual enrolment. There is no beneficiary list to get on to. The claim arises only from an actual rescue.

What documents are required?

How to apply for whale shark net compensation

1. Document the animal before you cut. Photograph or film the whale shark while it is still in the net, keeping the boat and net visible in the frame. Since 2012 the Forest Department accepts fishermen's own documentation precisely so that no one waits at sea for an officer to arrive.
2. Cut the net and release the shark alive. Do not haul it aboard, do not drag it and do not tow it. Release at the point of entanglement gives the animal the best chance of survival, which is what the record has to show.
3. Report the rescue immediately to the nearest range forest officer, the forest beat guard at your landing site, or the Junagadh Wildlife Division office. Give the date, time, approximate position and the photographs.
4. Have the net damage assessed. Forest staff, often with Wildlife Trust of India field workers, inspect the cut net and record the extent of the damage.
5. File the compensation claim with the range office, attaching the boat registration, fishing licence, Aadhaar, bank passbook copy and any bill or valuation for the net.
6. Follow up at the division office for sanction. Payment is made by transfer to the claimant's bank account after the claim is approved.

There is no online portal for this claim. The route is entirely through the forest range and division offices on the Saurashtra coast.

How much has been paid out?

The Gujarat Forest Department reports compensation of roughly Rs 63.97 lakh disbursed through the financial year 2014-15 under the net-damage compensation head. Set against 412 rescues, that is a small public cost for a Schedule I species that would otherwise be quietly cut loose or lost.

Individual sanctions are assessed case by case against the Rs 25,000 ceiling. A fisherman whose entire gill net panel was destroyed is closer to the ceiling than one who cut a few metres of mesh.

Why claims get delayed or rejected

• No photograph or video of the animal in the net, so the incident cannot be verified after the fact.
• Late reporting, where the net has already been repaired or replaced by the time forest staff inspect it.
• Boat or licence records not in the claimant's name, so the department cannot establish who owned the damaged gear.
• Bank details mismatched with Aadhaar, which stalls the transfer.
• Dead animal recovered rather than a live release, which triggers an inquiry under the Wildlife (Protection) Act instead of a compensation file.

The practical fix for almost all of these is the same: photograph first, report the same day, and keep the cut net until it has been inspected.

Where to get help

• Gujarat Forest Department: forests.gujarat.gov.in. The whale shark conservation pages carry the programme details and division contacts.
• Junagadh Wildlife Division and the range forest offices at Veraval, Sutrapada and Mangrol, the operational offices for rescues and claims.
• Wildlife Trust of India field teams, which support documentation and awareness work on this coast alongside the department.

Reporting a whale shark rescue costs nothing, and no fee is payable to anyone for processing a compensation claim. Compensation is paid only by bank transfer.