Bhadrak: Fishermen in Chandbali of Odisha’s Bhadrak district allegedly caught a whale shark weighing over a quintal and sold it to a Chennai-based businessman illegally for Rs 7.49 lakh on Wednesday.
Whale shark is protected under schedule -1 of the Wildlife Protection Act and sale of such rare species is banned in India, said Anil Mohapatra, scientist at Zoological Survey of India.
The Forest Department should take immediate and strict action against the sellers, he added.
The slow-moving whale shark is an expensive variety of marine fish.
