15-Feet Whale Shark Released into the Deep Sea in Odisha
At Odisha’s Pati Sonepur beach, local fishermen, villagers and the forest department released a 15-feet long whale shark into the Bay of Bengal after it came to the net line.
On 25th Feb 2021, fishermen were fishing at Pati Sonepur beach at Ganjam district in south Odisha. The fishermen had thrown their net in the sea. But suddenly a 15-feet long whale shark got stuck in their net. The whale weighed 1500 kg and was still alive. The Local fishermen, villagers and the forest department then decided to take the whale far into the Bay of Bengal and released it. Officials said that Whale shark is a slow moving fish which swims close to the water surface as it feeds on plankton. It comes near the Pati Sonepur beach generally from February to May every year. Forest personnel have been posted on the beach during the night to watch for any development. If the whale shark dies it will wash ashore due to the tidal wave of the sea. Whale sharks are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act and an endangered species. In 2020 at least four whale sharks had died in Odisha coast, including three in the Ganjam coast at Gopalpur, Pati Sonepur and Kantiagada, forest department sources said.
