Fishermen may soon turn underwater photographers

PORBANDAR: Fishermen in Porbandar could soon turn into underwater photographers by next year. The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Gujarat forest department have tied up to train them in underwater photography.

Sources say the initiative will help fishermen claim compensation for their fishing nets which get damaged while rescuing whale sharks.

Fishing nets cost around Rs25,000, and have to be torn to free whale sharks, which accidentally get caught in it.

A senior forest department official acknowledges that the payment of damages is sometimes delayed by months, as claims have to be investigated.

By speeding up the compensation process, the move will also make fishermen in the area more welcoming to the endangered mammal species, which breeds off the Gujarat coast.

The project is likely to begin in about seven months and will comprise an initial team of 10 to 15 fishermen. Those selected will be trained to use high-tech underwater cameras at sea.

Principal secretary of forest and environment, Gujarat, SK Nanda told DNA, “Once the first batch is trained, we plan to distribute these cameras to them for free. The basic idea is to motivate the community to save the whale shark.”

The department also plans to train another team to ‘tag’ the fin of a captured whale shark, before releasing it back into the sea. This will help researchers to understand its habits and migratory behaviour, a source said adding that this team would be picked from rescue departments, among others.

 Both teams will be trained by foreign experts and marine researchers. However, there’s no word on if the training would take place on the open sea or in an artificial water body.

t_kuldeep@dnaindia.net