Fishermen rescue whale shark – Tiktok @qasih2022 JalibobnoriFrom the east coast of Malaysia comes an extraordinary account of saintly fishermen who sacrifice their catch of the day to save a gentle giant.
In a viral video published in August, night fishermen around Kaula Terengganu are seen hauling in a net filled with fish, but the shouts heard are not ones of joy.
A whale shark, likely a juvenile, was caught in their net, circling around looking for an escape route.
Even though it might have meant losing their day’s pay, the fishermen began to tug and pull different sections of the net to allow the whale shark to leave.
In a second video, some of the ropy Malay fishermen are filmed inside the net, holding onto the whale shark’s head with one hand and trying to pull the surface rope of the net under its chin so it could swim over it.
@qasih2022 #JOGHO #TRF1379 ♬ bunyi asal - Jalibobnori
Whale sharks are totally harmless to humans, but the animal was as large as their boat, and floating in complete darkness beyond the scope of the spotlights mounted on the gunwales, one might still say it took a lot of nerve.
Eventually, their plan worked, and the whale shark can be seen gently swimming away. The first video was viewed 2.2 million times and accumulated 28k likes. Ironically the second video, where the whale shark actually leaves the net, was viewed around 23k times.
@qasih2022 #JOGHO #TRF1379 ♬ bunyi asal - Jalibobnori
There is currently no robust estimate of the whale shark population because they are a global migratory species that inhabit deep water. The species is considered endangered by the IUCN due to the impacts of fisheries, by-catch losses, and vessel strikes, and is one of 6 migratory shark species protected by an international treaty like whales.
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