A ceremony was held today at Environmental Protection Agency to recognise the recreational fishermen from M. Maduvvari Island for rescuing a stranded whale shark from a shallow lagoon near Maduvvari Island. The four men were given a certificate of appreciation by the Minister of Environment and Energy, Mr. Thoriq Ibrahim for their empathy and compassion towards a protected charismatic marine animal.

Speaking at the cetrtificate awarding ceremony, Minister of environment and Energy Mr. Thoriq Ibrahim said that there are so many good things that our citizens do every single day to protect our biodiversity, but it gets overshadowed by some of the negative things that occur in regards to protected species by few individuals. He also said that it is refreshing and enlightening to recognize encouraging incidents like this.