Non-Coercive or Voluntary Societies

Indian Express reports, "For a fisherman, nothing is perhaps more painful than to let go of a big catch with his own hands, especially if it happens to be a 30-ft whale shark that would fetch at least Rs 80,000.

But that’s exactly what fishermen of Saurashtra are doing — often cutting their expensive nets and releasing the whale shark they once butchered by the hundreds as the gentle giants came to breed in the warm waters of the Arabian Sea."

They are doing this on the instruction of a spiritual leader, who has likened whale sharks coming to give birth to their children as a daughter comes home to her family, not to be killed but to be protected. This has gone down well and had great effect. However, the financial pressure is mounting.

"Several fishermen who cut their nets that often costs up to Rs 10,000 to release trapped whale sharks have been felicitated by Morari Bapu on several occasions.

However, it’s not all faithful submission. During a bad season, tempers flare in the fishing communities. “Morari Bapu’s preachings are fine but we are becoming poorer by the day,” says Laxmansinh Ramsinh, the Veraval Boat Association leader.

He says it is just a matter of time before fishermen’s patience runs out and they start illegally killing the shark whale again. But the religious leader has his own plans to up the campaign: he is holding a public meeting in Veraval on February 17 to campaign against the killing of the whale shark."

How would we solve this with a maxim society approach? Easy. Start a fund called "Save the Whale Shark." Get an artist to photograph or paint a family of whale sharks, create a calendar and sell it to the elite in the cities. Raise enough money - targetting Rs. 1,00,000. Then, let all fishermen know that if they cut their nets to release a whale shark, the fund will bear the cost of replacing their nets immediately.