Aim of the project: This outreach work aimed to effectively communicate the findings of our project on guitarfish in Goa, raise awareness about these highly threatened species, and encourage local conservation action for them.
Across India’s coastline, unique species called guitarfish are found in the shallow coastal waters. Guitarfish are a group of fish closely related to sharks and rays. They’re highly threatened by overfishing, with most species Critically Endangered and at the risk of extinction.
India’s waters support a rich diversity of guitarfish species, but they are poorly studied with limited conservation plans in place. Our project on guitarfish in South Goa aims to shed some light on the habitat ecology of these species and their interaction with fisheries, to understand how they can be conserved.
As part of our project, we produced various outreach material targeted at different stakeholders, to raise awareness about these species and promote conservation action. The outreach materials was designed for different platforms/media (eg. print vs video) and to deliver specific messages to each target audience.
We created a short film in Konkani, the local language, about the importance of guitarfish in the ocean. The film was distributed and shown to local fishers, and encouraged them to safely release any guitarfish caught in their nets. I even designed a series of social media posts around the topic which can be seen on the @inseasonfish Instagram page.
In the image above, Bryan, our research assistant, is showing the film to the fishing community members at our study sites. I oversaw the art editing of this film, which entailed the whole design language and the opportunity to work with a superbly talented team to bring it to life. You can watch it below :)
For this project, I also oversaw the art editing of this film which entailed the whole design language and had the opportunity to work with a superbly talented team to bring this film to life. Hope you like it!
We distributed t-shirts to small-scale fishers who have assisted with the project and fieldwork, making them ‘champions’ of guitarfish. These t-shirts are meant to build pride for guitarfish and inspire local communities to take steps to conserve them.
Posters were made for shacks and restaurants, especially located on beaches, to inform tourists about the presence and importance of these species.
The pamphlets were made in both English and Konkani for the local communities, tourists and other stakeholders. These materials were shared widely, especially among groups who could not access the outreach video, and helped with raising awareness and inspiring action.
For this project, I worked with marine biologist and PhD student Trisha Gupta to manage and create all the outreach. The work was funded by Save Our Seas Foundation and Levine Family Foundation and supported by ICCS, FERAL and InseasonFish.
For more such collaborations email me at maninibansal107701@gmail.com
Photos for this project were taken by Udayan Rao Pawar, Bryan Miranda,
Trisha Gupta & Manini Bansal
