The crew of a fishing boat in Indonesia came to the rescue of a whale shark that managed to get itself entangled in a net.

Filmed on Thursday (June 6), the fishermen can be seen cutting the netting from around the shark's tail setting it free.

The fishing boat is based at the Tumumpa Beach Fisheries Port of Manado, Indonesia.

Lams Lahengkang, the captain of the fishing vessel, said: "When we released the net there was a crew member who was in the water shouting that there was a big fish."

Initially, the crew did not know what kind of fish was entangled. They tried to pull it to the surface of the sea and it turned out to be a whale shark.

"I asked to be released immediately because I knew that the fish was protected," Lahengkang said.

The whale shark is one of the protected species of fish in Indonesia and according to the WWF are endangered.

Lams Lahengkang, the captain of the Goshen fishing vessel 1 released large fish caught in the net.

"When we released the net, suddenly there was a crew who was in the water shouting that there was a big fish. I said calm, don't panic," Lams said on Friday (6/14/2019).

They initially did not know what kind of fish was entangled. They tried to pull it to the surface of the sea, and it turned out to be a whale shark.

"I asked to be released immediately, because I knew that the fish was protected," Lams said.

The act of Lams must sacrifice their fishing net. Due to the condition of the large whale sharks, the net had to be torn apart.

The incident occurred on Thursday (6/6), when they were fishing in the sea of ??Aluku.

The fishing boat is based at the Tumumpa Beach Fisheries Port of Manado. Their capture permit goes to Maluku sea waters.

Whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is one of the protected species of fish in Indonesia. This type is stated in the Decree of the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries No. 8 of 2014 concerning Determination of the Status of Full Protection of Whale Sharks.

Protection of whale sharks as an action to avoid the threat of extinction of these fish in natural habitat and safeguarding the biodiversity of fish species in Indonesia.

Research on this type of shark is still very minimal due to the difficulty of studying the life cycle that tends to migrators and solitary life.

It is estimated that the number is decreasing due to the ease of this fish being caught accidentally (bycatch) by fishermen because of its large size and slow movement.

Whale sharks are also included in the CITES Appendix II and are also included in the IUCN red list with Vulnerable categories, because they have specific characters such as longevity, low fecundity, small number of tillers, slow sexual maturity and slow growth, so that once happened over exploitation, it is very difficult for the population to recover.

Whale sharks are high trophic level predators in open coastal and marine ecosystems.

The benefits of establishing the status of full protection of these fish are to maintain the balance of the ecosystem (food chain) of marine waters, to preserve rare (exotic) marine biota, maintain the value and diversity of fish and environmental resources in a sustainable manner, and provide economic benefits to the community through the development of marine tourism