Once targeted for oil and meat, the whale shark is now being saved by fishers along India’s Arabian Sea coast. What began as a Gujarat-led conservation movement has reached Lakshadweep and Kerala. With awareness drives and rescue compensation, fishers are learning safe disentanglement techniques. Yet, inadequate support and social security gaps continue to challenge the people risking their livelihoods to protect this gentle giant. Mongabay India correspondent K A Shaji reports

On a March morning in Poonthura, near Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, a group of fishermen were hauling their kambavala — a traditional stake-net fixed between bamboo poles driven into the seabed to trap fish in the tidal flow. Their net caught something immense. A dark, speckled shadow thrashed inside the mes

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