Ningaloo Reef Helps Boost Whale Shark Research

March 10, 2005

Release from: ABC News Online (Australia)

Hundreds of photographs of whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, off Western Australia, are being used to develop a profile on shark numbers.

In a world first, biologists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) are using a 12-year collection of whale shark photographs to help identify growth and migration patterns.

AIMS biologist Mark Meekan says little is known about the shark because it usually lives in the open ocean.

Mr Mark Meekan says a lot can be discovered about the species at Ningaloo.

"Ningaloo's very, very unusual in a sense that it's one of the few places in the world, one of the few coastal environments in the world where whale sharks turn up," he said.

"Much of what we know about whale sharks actually comes from our observations at Ningaloo."