A group of fishermen from Palghar turned heroes for an endangered Whale shark who got entangled in their nets. Hitendra Meher of Wadrai village was out in the sea with five or six other fishermen on his boat, Amar Sai, on Wednesday morning when he realised that Whale shark, or dev maasa, had got stuck in the net. "They were trying to catch Bombay duck and mandeli (anchovy) when they felt a pull in their nets and saw the dev masa. Without thinking of the losses they would incur, they quickly cut the nets and released it," says Bharat Dhanu, a fisherman from Colaba. One of the men on board video-recorded the incident and sent it to Dhanu, who is circulating it within the community to raise awareness about the importance of saving the endangered species. The Whale shark is one of the largest fish in the ocean and is hunted for meat, fin and oil. Marine specialists have nicknamed them 'gentle giants' for their docile nature. Despite the daunting name, they ingest only plankton. Mass hunting across the world has put them on the endangered list. Bhushan Bhoir, a marine enthusiast and wildlife rescuer from Palghar who received the video, said the conservation efforts of the fishermen community were heartening to behold. "We will request the State Mangrove Cell to not only compensate the fishermen for the loss of their nets but also felicitate them to encourage more fishermen to rescue such endangered and protected species," says Bhoir. Fishing nets are intensive – in terms of time and money – to repair, and can set a fisherman back by a few days' income. Bhoir says this is the second whale shark sighting in the region, indicating this is their natural habitat, which construction activities, such as building ports, could destroy. The species is known to breed off the shores of Gujarat and Malvan in Maharashtra, with the latter being home to the second biggest congregation ever found.

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