Gujarat in ‘shark’ focus ahead of introducing whale shark tourism IndiaExpress.com BASHIR PATHAN Posted: Nov 27, 2008
Gandhinagar, November 26 : Foreign as well as domestic tourists visiting Gujarat will now get a chance to watch whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) from a close range in their natural habitat, as the Whale Shark Watching Tourism is all set to be introduced off the Saurashtra coast.
Note: Natural habitat!
It has also been proposed to work out combined packages involving other nearby tourist destinations to attract tourists. “This is to create awareness about the need for conservation and protection of the amazing whale sharks, and generate employment for the local fishermen,” said a senior Forest official involved in the project.
The whale shark was once known to be hunted along the Gujarat coast in large numbers. According to a survey conducted in 1999-2000, as many as 591 sharks had been reported killed for liver oil that was used for waterproofing wooden boats and the meat for export. India banned whale shark hunting in 2001, making it the first fish to be protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Later, the Gujarat government launched an awareness campaign to protect sharks, involving local fishermen and religious leaders. The voluntary conservation programme now has local fishermen, especially in the coastal areas of Veraval, Mangrol, Porbandar and Sutrapada, playing an active role.
Are Singaporeans so far removed from a relationship with nature that they think keeping a whale shark in a tank is okay? There is NO WAY to duplicate in a captive environment what a whale shark experiences in its lifetime migrating across oceans. And similarly keeping a whale shark in captivity is IN NO WAY anything close to conservation, no matter how much Resort World Sentosa tries to pretend it is.
Another country in our vicinity who took heed of the need for conservation of whale sharks.
How can Resort World Sentosa claim to be able to sustain these giant animals with "love" and "care" when they are obviously not suited for captivity! How is that loving and caring in any way? I think they only love and care for money and profit.
Taiwan will ban the harvest and sale of whale sharks beginning in 2008, a decision that could have repercussions at the Georgia Aquarium and other facilities where the world's largest fish are displayed.
The Georgia Aquarium, the world's largest aquarium, has three whale sharks from Taiwan, a major supplier of whale sharks. It is negotiating to get two more this summer from the Taiwanese government, before the ban takes effect.
The aquarium had four whale sharks until January, when a male, Ralph, died. A necropsy showed the fish died of peritonitis, an inflammation of the abdomen. He also had stomach perforations, possibly caused by force-feeding through a PVC pipe.
Taiwanese officials say they want to know more about Ralph's death before approving the export of two more.
The species needs protecting, said Brad Norman, director of Ecocean, an Australian nonprofit group working worldwide to protect whale sharks. He called the ban "absolutely fantastic."
"The number of whale sharks has dropped dramatically over the past few years and the ban sends a message both to Taiwan and the rest of the world that officials there recognize how imperiled this animal is," Norman said.
Wah usually Singapore takes pride in "making the first move" ahead of Malaysia, but I think in this case we need to follow in Malaysia's footsteps!
How will Singaporeans take the situation seriously if even the government says it's okay to have shark's fin soup at official functions.
Malaysian ministry bans shark's fin soup from Channel NewsAsia, 15 September 2007
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has struck off shark's fin soup from the menus at official functions, to help conserve the species, a report said Saturday.
"By refraining from the consumption of shark's fin soup, it is hoped that the ministry would contribute in one way or another towards the current conservation efforts for sharks species," he said.
"Their demise would start off a domino effect, which at each stage could result in the depletion or overpopulation of other fish and marine species leading to an imbalance in the marine ecosystem," he said.
I wonder how long people can remain ignorant about what is going on at their doorstep! We sit in our restuarants eating sharks fin soup while a stone's throw away in Bali fishermen are feeding this demand by destroying whole shark populations. People who eat sharks fin soup are responsible for this demand, regardless of whether you eat it because it's already dead, or because it's in front of you. If everybody left the sharks fin soup at weddings, the hosts will know that it's not worth the money because nobody is enjoying it! You have to take a stand mah!
A sad shark's tale: Shocking images show scale of fin trade By Daily Mail Reporter 17th November 2008
An enormous haul of shark fins being readied for sale at Denpasar Fisheries Harbour on the Indonesian island of Bali.
Figures from the World Wildlife Fund and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, show that in for 2006 alone 98,250 tonnes of shark fins were caught and sold, making up 13 percent of the world market.
Renowned freelance photographer, Gunther Deichmann, 58, who photographed the shark fin haul, is adamant the world should confront the growing issue of shark fin trading.
Gunther noticed hammerhead and black tip sharks in the haul and was particularly struck by the knowledge sharks are thrown back into the water alive and tailless, condemned to a rudderless, painful death.
'The sad thing about the catch is that they will just pack up and go out and do it again. This is a multi-million dollar industry and will not be stopped until all the sharks have been eaten it seems. I really don't know what all the fuss is about. The soup doesn't even taste good in my opinion,' he added.
As shark fishing continues to increase, populations are rapidly going into decline. The bodies of the sharks are simply tossed back into the water from giant ocean going trawlers after being caught.
National Geographic Society video about how the demand for sharks fin is affecting even the protected sharks in Costa Rica's Cocos Island National Park as they are hunted by illegal fishing boats and poachers.
While I was looking for bona fide videos of shark attacks on Youtube I found this which is quite amusing! In fact most of the videos of "shark attacks" were backyard spoofs and other fictional films.
It is this "monster marketing" of irrational fear of sharks that creates an obstacle for the their conservation. This is a great letter from the International Shark Discussion Forum to Discovery Channel's about their marketing of Shark Week.
International Shark Discussion Forum Takes Stance Against Discovery's Shark Week 'Monster' Marketing underwatertimes 19 Jul 07
It's no secret that people love monsters, blood, teeth and frights. On Shark Week, that seems to be what you are offering them, even though this subject matter fails to reflect current scientific understanding of these unusual and important fish.
For example, though there are about 500 known shark species, inhabiting a wide range of ecolological niches, your shows focus on the biggest top predators, especially the great white shark.
In recent years, conservation groups as well as individuals and scientists have become concerned to the point of alarm at the speed with which sharks have been depleted, mostly for the growing market for shark fin soup.
Casting sharks in a negative light leads to increased devastation of the species that you feature, even if that is not your intention.
Apart from the waste and brutality involved in shark finning, the threat of extinction is such an important part of the reality sharks face, that we ask why you have not used your power to publicize it. It is your responsibility as a credible media company to portray the perilous situation sharks face, thus bolstering consumer awareness and action.
On the contrary, we know from personal experience that you take the trouble to clip information about the finning crisis from your sequences about sharks, deliberately concealing the facts of this oceanic catastrophe from your viewers, who innocently believe that you are presenting them with science.
Your own words clearly express how you promote and prolong their "Mindless Man-eater" image, and contribute to an attitude that allows their mass slaughter with almost no public sympathy, nor protest: "Ocean of Fear: Worst Shark Attack Ever" "Deadly Stripes: Tiger Sharks" "Top 5 Eaten Alive" "Shark Feeding Frenzy"
In the 1970s, Peter Benchley's fictional best-seller, JAWS (which Steven Spielberg made into a blockbuster movie), dramatically increased our immemorial fear of sharks.
By the 1980s, that fear had largely given way to curiosity, resulting in an unprecedented amount research on them.
Thus, in the 1990s, as sharks became target species for Asian markets, scientific data were available to combat the new threat to sharks.
We are no longer in the 1970s, and the archaic perception of sharks you present belongs on the History Channel, not the Discovery Channel. Peter Benchley became a spokesman for sharks and an ardent shark conservationist. We suggest Discovery Channel follow his example and move Shark Week into the 21st Century.
Singaporeans like to get up in arms about things and often we're accused of not coming up with solutions and instead just compounding on the problem. Well here's a solution to the whale sharks in captivity that sounds good to me!
unpublished letter to the media from WildSingapore. Sea Shepherds on the Whale Sharks at Sentosa IR Letter from Grant W. Pereira Asian Education Advisor Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
I read with concern your article entitled "Activist against having a whale of a time" by Krist Boo in the Straits Times (October 26th, Home page) that Krezner International plans to have an aquarium at the Integrated Resort to keep the endangered whaleshark and beluga whales.
How ironic on the same day, the "TODAY" newspaper had an article entitled "WHALE SHARK RESEARCHER, BRAD NORMAN WINS ROLEX AWARD" by AshrafSafdar.
Mr Norman received this prestigious award from our President Mr. S. R. Nathan, by monitoring the movements of the endangered shark.
The whale shark has a migratory range of 13,000 km and can dive to 980 metres, can Kerzner build an aquarium to suit their requirements?
Perhaps the A.V.A. would like to comment about the legal implication of keeping an endangered species in a captive environment?
Perhaps also Kerzner would like to make their scientific research on the whale shark public so that marine experts can make comments on these findings.
The Singapore Government has always worked towards being a caring and sophisticated society and keeping a magnificent fish that needs both space and depth hardly augurs well with the international worldwide image we want to project.
Instead of a whaleshark in captivity, how about a sunken ship as an artificial reef so that our young can learn first hand about corals etc and how they support marine life. I am sure this would be a first worldwide as only divers have seen how these structures support marine biodiversity.
Let's abandon this high risk (and perhaps illegal) project and teach something positive to our youngsters instead of the negative lesson that money can buy everything even endangered mammals, fish and animals.
Does anybody else agree with this guy? I'd pick a ship wreck with a healthy coral reef ecosystem and many different species over a whale shark languishing in a glass prison anyday!
