Filipino Fishermen Active In Conserving Whale Sharks

May 12, 2009

Release from: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

When fish stocks decline, coral reefs die and sea levels rise because of climate change, people living in coastal areas are the first victims. Well, human victims, that is.

Plenty of marine species are at threat as well. Fishermen in Donsol, around

600 kilometers southeast of Manila, have become active protectors of their environment.

Between December and May, more than a hundred Donsol fishermen take their boats to sea, but rarely to haul in a catch. Instead, they earn a living by acquainting tourists with the largest fish on Earth: whale sharks.

The bay of Donsol not only serves as the feeding ground for the giant fish, the recent find of a baby whale shark suggests that they also rear their young there.

“We are here to observe [the whale sharks], not to disturb them,” Alloy, a fisherman, reminds the tourist group that has gathered onboard his boat before they all jump into the water in full snorkeling gear.

Outside the shark-watching season, Alloy catches tuna, swordfish and sardines on the very same boat.

Less than 10 meters from the boat, the group spots its first whale shark approaching them slowly and elegantly.

The group follows the colossus for a while, before it descends deeper and finally vanishes.

The fisherman on the boat usually spots four, five, sometimes up to eight specimens during a regular three-hour tour, and the tourists are always fascinated as they observe the animals up close in their natural habitat.

Whale sharks can grow up to 20 meters long and weigh up to 34 tons, according to the environmental organization World Wildlife Fund for Nature.

WWF staff members taught the fishermen of Donsol how to interact with the whale sharks and make such gentle inter-species encounters possible.

The fishermen and boat crews, the beachfront restaurants and small hotels are all concerned about the wellbeing of the whale shark, but it hasn’t always been that way. “Previously, we thought of these giant fish as a nuisance because they tore up our nets,” says fisherman Gilbert Guadamor.

But things have changed, and today some of the whale sharks, easy to tell apart by the unique patterns on their backs, have even been nicknamed by the locals.

Guadamor has become one of the staunchest advocates of protecting the local waters.

The WWF ecotourism initiative was indeed so successful that Donsol welcomed some 12,000 tourists this season.

“But we must keep the number of visitors in check, otherwise they will scare the fish away,” Guadamor says.

Prior to having been pronounced a protected species by the Philippine government in 1998, whale sharks were commonly hunted.

Their meat was mostly shipped to Taiwan, where it was a much sought-after delicacy until countries across Southeast Asia imposed bans on the hunting and trading of the fish.

Despite protection in place, even the smallest whale shark ever discovered, only 38 centimeters long, endured a few hours of terror in March before regaining its freedom.

Two men had offered the fish to the owner of an aquarium near Donsol, but luckily it was rescued and released after WWF received a tip-off.

“It probably was just a few days old,” says WWF representative Elson Aca.

The WWF is currently researching the sharks’ migration routes and which ocean current flushes the large amounts of plankton into the bay of Donsol, which is what attracts the animals.

A visitor at the WWF visitor’s center in Donsol has just learned of the whale shark’s teeth and 1.5 meter-wide mouth.

“It is good to know that they are vegetarian,” she remarks.

“That’s not true,” Aca says, shocking the woman.

He says that whale sharks are filter feeders. They suck in water, trap the plankton and expel the water through the gills. They don’t use their teeth in feeding.

“They also feed on tiny crabs and shrimp. But don’t worry, they would spit out humans as inedible,” he laughs.