Amidst the victory cries of the fishermen, the beast desperately tries to free itself from the harpoons. But they have sunk too deep into its head. With each passing minute, its efforts weaken. As the whale-shark is towed to the coast, it is almost lifeless.

Within hours, the fishermen auction their catch to processing units. The fish is stripped of its fins and skin and hacked to pieces. The pieces are quickly taken by truck to processing units, where they are frozen, packed, and exported within 24 hours.

Some months ago, Veraval fishermen killed a rare kind of whale-shark which they call `barrel'. A decade or so ago, the fishermen would not have hunted it, because of a superstition against hunting this kind of whale-shark. Not any more. The lure of big money has won daily, three or four `barrels' are killed and towed in.

Harbour officials estimate that last year about 1,000 whale-sharks (scientific name Rhiniodon typus) were hunted off the Saurashtra coast by fishermen from Veraval, Okha, and Jakhau. Scientists at the Marine Research Institute, Veraval, say the landings have drastically increased in the last six months. ``Whale-sharks weighing 7-10 tonnes are common. A 15-tonner is exceptionally big, and comes in occasionally,'' said a scientist.

No sooner than a fish is brought to the coast, bidding begins. ``The price depends on the size. A 25-footer can fetch up to Rs 1.30 lakh, while a small five-footer may fetch Rs 20,000,'' says Ramji, an agent who bids on behalf of fish processing units.

Premji Marji, another agent, who operates at the Bidiya Bandar jetty, known for big landings, says the bids have increased drastically over the past few months. Fishermen have realised that whale-shark meat has a big market abroad.

Besides, almost every inch of the whale-shark has value. Says Ramesh Chopadtar of Elite Exports: ``The leather, liver, bones, fins, meat -- there's demand for every part of the whale-shark. The main export markets are Taiwan, Malaysia and eastern countries, where fin soup and other delicacies are made.''

Joe Kizhakudan, a scientist at the Marine Research Institute, says that right from the leather to the cartilage, every part of the whale-shark fetches a high price in the international market. The fins alone fetch thousands of rupees. Exporters often make 10 times the amount they pay fishermen.

For the fishermen, the discovery of whale-shark as a source of income comes at a time when fish exports to Europe had gone down because of the European Community's insistence on strict hygienic standards. Besides, catches off the Saurashtra coast were getting smaller.

Ironically, it is the docility of this huge, slow-moving creature that has become its nemesis: the whale-shark does not swim away or dive deeper when boats approach it.

The whale-shark's status on the World Conservation Union's Red List is described as ``indeterminate''. But, according to sources in the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, there is increasing concern that the whale-shark population may be depleting to dangerous levels. East Asian countries like Taiwan, where whale-shark meat is considered a delicacy, have already banned its hunting.