An Assessment of the Past and Present Distribution Status of the Whale Shark (Rhincodontypus) Along the West Coast of India
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An assessment of the past and present distribution status of the Whale Shark (Rhincodontypus) along the west coast of India November 2011 – March 2013 This report has been designed and published by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) Produced with the financial support of Danida, Norad and Sida All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the IUCN and MFF. The designation of geographical entities in this report, and presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) or The Mangroves for the Future (MFF) Initiative concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN or the MFF Initiative, nor does citing of trade names or commercial processes constitute endorsement. Available from the IUCN India Country Office and WTI Citation: Choudury. B.C, Kaul. R, Premjothi. P.V.R, Subburaman. S, Matwal. M, Joshi. D, and Louise. J (2013).An assessment of the past and present distribution status of the Whale Shark (Rhincodontypus) along the west coast of India.F-13, Wildlife Trust of India, Sector – 8, Noida, Uttra Pradesh.Available at www.wti.org.in CONTENTS Tables......................................................................................................................................i Figures....................................................................................................................................i Abbreviations..........................................................................................................................ii 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..............................................................................1-2 2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................................3 3. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................4-5 3.1. Occurrence of whale Sharks in Indian Ocean.......................................6 3.2. Whale Sharks along the Indian coast.....................................................6-7 3.3. Whale Shark exploitation in India..........................................................7-9 3.4. Rationale of the present study.................................................................9-10 4. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY.....................................................................11 5. PROJECTAREA.................................................................................................12-19 5.1. Maharashtra 5.2. Goa 5.3. Karnataka 5.4. Kerala 5.5. Lakshadweep 6. PROJECTDESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 6.1. Literature Review.....................................................................................20 6.2. Consultation with professional institution and organization................20 6.3. Developing the TEK and ITK based survey questionnaire....................20-21 6.4. Planning and finalizing the fish landing sites and villages for survey..................................................................................................21 -22 6.5. Stratifying possible interviewees.............................................................22 6.6. Conducting the questionnaire survey.....................................................22 6.7. Data Analysis...........................................................................................22 7. RESULTS 7.1. Literature Review of Whale Sharks.......................................................23-25 7.2. Range of information gathered from professional institution and organization.............................................................................................25 7.3. Results based on Questionnaire Survey in West Coast of India 7.3.1. Whale Shark sighting................................................................26-27 7.3.2. Time-period of Whale Shark sighting by the respondents over the decades......................................................................27-29 7.3.3. Frequency in Whale Shark sighting over a year..........................................................................................30 7.3.4. Number of Whale Shark sighted in a fishermen lifetime.....................................................................................31-32 7.3.5. Whale Shark incidental catch....................................................32-34 7.3.6. Volunteer release of Whale Shark by fishermen........................................................................................34-35 7.3.7. Correlation between number of fishermen released Whale Shark and number of fishermen aware about the ban on Whale Shark......................................................................35 7.3.8. Village level comparison of states in terms of effectiveness of the awareness regarding ban on Whale Shark fishing...........................................................................35-36 7.3.9. Human induced threats to Whale Shark in west coast of India..............................................................................37 7.3.10. Indigenous knowledge on Whale Shark along the west coast of India and global scientific information.........................37 7.3.11. Geographic locations where Whale Sharks have been sighted, or where they are believed to aggregate........................................................................................38-39 8. DISCUSSION....................................................................................................................40-45 9. APPENDICES 9.1. List of states and their fishing villages surveyed ............................................46 9.2. Whale Shark Survey Questionnaire in English...............................................47-48 9.3. Pictures taken during questionnaire survey conducted along the west coast of India....................................................................................................49 9.4. Whale Shark pictures provided by various sorces along the west coast of India and Lakshadweep during the survey..................................50 10. REFERENCES................................................................................................................51-66 i TABLES Table 1: Seasonal fishing ban or holiday along maritime states in west coast of India....................12 Table 2: Details of published literature and media reports reviewed for co-ordinating the questionnaire survey...........................................................................................................................23-25 Table 3: Organization and Institution visited in west coast of India.................................................25 Table 4: Number of surveyed villages and respondents along the west coast of India......................26 Table 5: Indigenous knowledge on Whale Shark along the west coast of India and global scientific information.........................................................................................................................37 FIGURES Figure 1: Location of communities visited in Maharashtra..............................................................15 Figure 2: Location of communities visited in Goa............................................................................16 Figure 3: Location of communities visited in Karnataka..................................................................17 Figure 4: Location of communities visited in Kerala........................................................................18 Figure 5: Location of communities visited in Lakshadweep.............................................................19 Figure 6: Percentage of interviewees reported Whale Shark sighting..............................................27 Figure 7: Significance difference of Whale Shark sighting over the decades...................................28 Figure 8: Variation in number of active fishermen/village encountered Whale Shark in different time period over a decade................................................................................................29 Figure 9: Variation in number of active fishermen/village encountered Whale Shark in different time period over a decade in different survey regions........................................................29 Figure 10: Frequency of Whale Shark sighting during different months of the year.....................30 Figure 11: Number of Whale Shark sighted in a fishermen lifetime.................................................31 Figure 12: State-wise number of Whale Shark sighted in a fishermen lifetime.................................32 Figure 13: Percentage of Whale Shark incidental catch……………………………………………...33 Figure 14: Differences in mean of respondents caught Whale Shark incidentally using different types of net…………………………………………………………………...................................34 Figure 15: Percentage of Whale Shark release……………………………………………………….…35 Figure 16: Scatter plot showing the distribution of villages (of four different states of west coast of India) with respect to release of incidentally caught Whale Shark and awareness about the ban on Whale Shark fishing………………………………………………………...36 ii Figure 17: Geographic locations where Whale Sharks have been sighted, or where they are believed to aggregate……………………………………………………………………...39