GUJARAT (INDIA)- Through the SharkNewz Daily I stumbled upon this shocking video on the slaughter of whale sharks off the Indian coast. It is a shortened version of the award-winning film ‘Shores of Silence’.
This film moved the government of India into bringing in legislation and banning the killing of the Whale Sharks on Indian shores. The Whale Shark was declared protected under the Indian Wildlife Act- 1972, bringing it at par with the tigers and the Rhino.
This was a landmark move. It was the first marine species to be protected under the Indian law.
In November 2002, at the international CITES meet in Chile, Santiago, a negative voting changed into an overwhelming positive after this film was shown to the delegates – bringing global protection of the Whale Shark and giving the largest fish in the world a new lease of life.
The Film has also been greatly successful in bringing about change in the attitude of fisher folk
Awards won:
1. THE GREEN OSCAR -Winner of the Worlds most Prestigious GREEN OSCAR / PANDA AWARD, Wildscreen Festival, Bristol, UK – 2000
2. The Citta Di Toronto at the Cinemambiente Awadrs – 2001
3. The 6th Sichuan TV Festival , China – 2001
4. The Honour of Knowledge Award at Baristlava, Slovakia – 2001
5. The Golden Jury Award, Worldfest, Houston- 2002
6. The Rolls Royce, Commonwealth Broadcasting Award, UK- 2002
7. Ecofilm, Award in the Category of Documentary, Oct 2002
8. Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic Award, Nov 2002
9. Wildlife trust of India, Endangered Species Award, 2002
10. Vatavaran 2003 Prithvi Ratan Award for Outstanding Achievement in Global Conservation, November 2003
11.National Award for Best Adventure & Exploration Film, 2005