Whale shark - Zac Wolf

A tiny whale shark has been stuck with nowhere to go at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone’s waters, marine researches commented on Monday.

The whale shark, locally known as a “butanding”, was first discovered at the Boton Wharf this past Thursday, according to Arkilo Villacen, a worker in Subic.

Arkilo, who operates the cranes for a living, has commented that he and his colleagues were expecting the arrival of a speedboat on the wharf when they spotted this 5 meter long interloper.

He has said that he was rather shaken at first, as he thought the thing was a meat-eating shark. Which isn’t surprising, as they do share a striking resemblance to those other sharks.

However, the whale shark really does get a bum rap. They are peaceful creatures, and subsist on plankton and other small plants. They can grow to be over 12 meters long and are the largest living fish species known to science at this time.

Jonathaniel Apurado, a marine biologist, thinks that the small whale shark hails from the South China Sea, and is quite possibly lost.

He has expressed concern that the whale shark might be injured or killed if it is hit by propellers by the seafaring vessels and speedboats in the highly trafficked waters at Subic.

Apurado has stated that the whale shark should be helped back out to the open seas, as there is not enough plankton available in Subic Bay. He added that the whale shark will also be reported to the Bureau of Fisheries ad Aquatic Resources, so that they may help the poor creature home.

In the past week, scientists have been cheering at their discovery of what appears to be one of the biggest whale shark groups ever seen in the northern Gulf of Mexico. There were 100 of the amazing creatures feeding on the surface over a deepwater feature known as Ewing Bank, which is located off of Louisiana.

However their cheering was short lived as one of their worst fears was confirmed… They are not avoiding the spill area. Eric Hoffmayer, a scientist with the University of Southern Mississippi, had this to say on the subject, “Our worst fears are realized. They are not avoiding the spill area, those animals are going to succumb. Taking mouthfuls of oil is not good. It is not the toxicity that will kill them. It’s that oil is going to be sticking to their gills and everything else.”

Whale sharks are the largest fish on the planet. They feed by filtering plankton and other tiny sea animals from the water through a colander like feature in their mouths. As mentioned before, it is not the ingestion of the oil that is the major problem, although it is not healthy for the Whale sharks.

“Based on all the information I’m getting, they are doing the normal things regardless of the oil. The idea that sharks have these evolved senses that will protect them — well, they haven’t evolved to detect oil,” Hoffmayer said.

Hoffmayer had been tagging Whale sharks on the Ewing Bank in June of last year. The trackers he managed to get onto the whale sharks showed that some of the animals spent July making their way hundreds of miles toward the coast of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. If they follow the same pattern this year, it will put them smack dab in the middle of the oil spill.

Not a lot is known about the migratory patterns of the whale shark, and they are not sure exactly how many of them make their home in the Gulf of Mexico.

The best way to get a handle on their comings and goings of the whale shark is by utilizing photographs of the spots and the bars on their sides. These patterns are as unique to the whale sharks as fingerprints are to us.

Hoffmayer has warned that the implications are far more grand than they appear to be.. “Last year we had two sighted off Florida and Alabama that were from Honduras and Belize,” Hoffmayer said. “That means these oil impacts are not only for the Gulf population, but for the Caribbean and maybe even further. The implications are pretty big here.”

He also said that the relatively high temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, and the position of the offshore Loop Current, signifies that the environmental conditions in the Gulf this year, are extremely similar to the conditions which drew the whale sharks to the same area last year.

This all adds up to big trouble for the poor whale shark.. one can only hope a solution is found quickly.

Scientists say they are baffled by the large number of whale shark sightings reported this summer in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Reports have been pouring in from all over; from Clearwater to the Florida Panhandle and along the Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana coasts.

“The sheer number of anecdotal reports from the public is amazing. There’s obviously something going on,” says shark scientist Bob Hueter who heads the Shark Research Center at Mote Marine Laboratory.

It is common for Whale sharks to gather in the plankton-rich waters off the Yucatan Peninsula during the summer, but this year numerous whale shark sightings have been reported from the eastern and northern parts of the Gulf as well. The concentrations spotted off the Yucatan Peninsula are also higher than before with hundreds of Whale sharks being seen in a single location.

According to Mote Marine Laboratory records, there were just three Whale shark sightings in the Florida Gulf in 2005, two in 2006, five in 2007, and three in 2008. This year, there have been 12 sightings just from July to mid-August.

According to Heuter, the large Whale sharks may have been attracted by a change in the massive “loop current” in the Gulf that took place this year, and there is also a stronger than usual upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water off the Yucatan that may play a role.

“That changed the oceanography a bit, and it could have driven some of these animals up into the northern Gulf,” Hueter explained.

Eric Hoffmayer, a biologist with the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory on the Mississippi coast, said his lab has gotten reports of 30 sightings in just the last two weeks. On Aug. 1, there was a reported sighting of more than 100 whale sharks congregating about 60 miles off the Louisiana coast.

“We don’t know what’s going on,” said a baffled Hoffmayer.

Many of the sightings have occurred when there was a full moon.

As mentioned above, record sightings are being reported from the waters off Yucatan as well. An aerial survey last week did for instance reveal over 400 whale sharks in a relatively small area near the Isla Mujeres. The Yucatan aggregation is an annual phenomenon, but it usually takes place near Isla Holbox and the group tends to be much smaller.

According to a new report from Ningaloo Reef, the number of whale sharks in its waters is on the increase. The study, published in the journal Endangered Species Research (ESR), was made possible thanks to ECOCEAN – a new type of online photo-identification technology.

The system works by encouraging members of the public to send in their photos of whale shark, photos which are then stored in the in a database. Once they are in the data base, scientist can identify each whale shark using the pattern-recognition software.

Baby whale shark in the Phillipines.
Picture by WWF PF. Support WWF

The new technology in combination with the aid of citizens makes it easier for scientists to learn more about the migratory habits of the whale shark, the world’s larger fish. Prior to the 1980’s there were no more than 350 confirmed sightings of whale shark around the globe.

Since the project first began in 1993, over 500 new individual whale sharks have been discovered at Ningaloo Reef.

“Why are more and more juveniles arriving on the reef? It’s unclear, but it’s positive news,” says Jason Holmberg, lead author of the study.

Brad Norman, founder of the ECOCEAN whale shark project and Murdoch University, says the research shows that whale sharks can increase where they are well-protected.

“We have also demonstrated the power of citizen-science, that ordinary people around the world can make a real contribution to serious research and conservation,” he says. “Thanks to increasing levels of data collection, we’re finally able to estimate how many whale sharks appear annually, how long they typically remain at Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP), their patterns of arrival and departure and shifts in their population structure.”

In some countries whale sharks are still harvested commercially, while others have shifted over to whale safaris which can generate a substantial income through ecotourism. The researchers from Curtin University have shown that whale shark ecotourism can be advantageous for local communities around whale shark ‘hotspots’ such as the Ningaloo Reef.

“Our results indicate that without whale sharks at Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP) up to $4.6 million* would be lost from the local economy,” says Norman.

The success of the online collaboration between scientist and citizens has prompted researchers to issue a worldwide call to vacationers and divers to join in a global effort to monitor and protect the whale shark. You can find more information at www.whaleshark.org.

* 4.6 million AUD equals roughly 3.4 million USD

The tiny whale shark caught off the Philippine coast near San Antonio on March 6 has been confirmed by WWF to be the smallest live whale shark on record ever to be captured and released in the Philippines and arguably also the smallest living whale shark ever to be scientifically recorded.

Picture by WWF PF. Support WWF

The impressive Whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is the largest fish on the planet. The biggest specimen regarded as accurately recorded was caught in Pakistani waters in 1947 and measured 12.65 metres (41.50 ft) in length, with a girth of 7 metres (23.0 ft) and a weight exceeding 21.5 tonnes (47,300 lb).

The small specimen caught near San Antonio was on the other hand no longer than 15 in (38 cm) and may be what biologists call a neonate, i.e. a newborn. This is very interesting, since we still do not know to which part or parts of the world Whale shark females migrate to give birth to their pups. The finding of this tiny pup has caused scientists to speculate that the Philippine waters might be one of the places on the planet where the biggest fish in the world is born.

So, how did this petite Whale shark end up in human hands? On the morning of March 7, word reached Tourism Officer Pedragosa that a whale shark had been caught near San Antonio the day before. Pedragosa immediately sent Butanding Interaction Officer Guadamor to inform the town’s Municipal Agricultural officer Rabulan, and at this point, Aca, WWF’s Project Leader in Donsol, the municipality in which San Antonio is located, also became involved. When a shark is caught, time is of course crucial – examining the animal is important from a scientific point of view, but you don’t want to subject the shark to more stress than necessary. Aca therefore joined the officers of tourism, agriculture, and interaction at the tourism office right away and together they hastily drew up an operational plan and headed for San Antonio. At this stage, Berango, Chief of Police of Pilar, had also been alerted and Ravanilla, Regional Director of Tourism, had informed the resorts closest to the site.

The Chief of Police met up with Aca and the ministers at the seashore, where they found not a gigantic whale but a small stick jammed into the sand with a rope leading away from it into the ocean. As they followed the rope, they saw that it was tied around the tail of the smallest whale shark they had ever encountered before.

Whale Shark – Picture GNU Licensed

The team examined the shark to make sure that it had not been hurt, gave it food, measured it and documented the unique find. Less then three hours after the report first reached the tourism officer, the shark had been safely transferred to a big, water-filled plastic bag and the team was now heading towards deeper water where the shark could be released. Releasing it close to shore was not considered safe enough since the shallows in this area contains a lot of nets.

All this action took place in Sorsogon, a Philippine province famous for hosting the largest known annual congregation of whale sharks in the world. The province has become a popular destination for vacationers interested in snorkelling with sharks and going on shark safaris, and WWF is therefore working with local residents to develop and improve sustainable eco tourism practices along the coast.