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The 4th International Whale Shark Conference
- Conference date: 16-18 May 2016
- Location: Doha, Qatar
- Volume number: 2016
- Published: 15 May 2016
1 - 20 of 67 results
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Butanding Network's whale shark awareness conservation efforts and challenges in the Philippines
More LessBy Elson Q. AcaBackground The Philippines is an archipelagic country consisting of 7,107 islands with 36,289 kilometers of discontinous coastline. 14 out of 15 administrative regions (or 93%) are coastal regions, 62 out of 80 provinces (or 78%) are coastal provinces, while 832 out of 1,496 municipalities (or 56%) are coastal municipalities. It was estimated that the total coastal population will reach 73.3 million by 2011. Approach Initial aware Read More
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On their way to pupping grounds?: Unprecedented parade of large female whale sharks at Darwin Island, Galapagos Marine Reserve
More LessBackground The Galapagos Whale Shark Project is a multi-institutional effort initiated in 2011 with the aim to characterize the presence, population structure and movement patterns of whale sharks within and around the Galapagos Marine Reserve. This specific study aimed to understand their occurrence, residency and habitat use around Darwin Island, located at the northern tip of the Galapagos Archipelago, where large indiv Read More
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Establishing the ecological connectivity of whale shark aggregations across the Indian Ocean – a photo-identification approach
More LessBackground The seasonal aggregations of whale sharks that occur at coastal sites throughout the tropics are the focus of growing ecotourism industries. Genetic and modelling studies suggest that these aggregations may be linked by migration, although the temporal and spatial scales at which this occurs is unknown. Here, we utilized a continuously expanding photoidentification database collected by citizen scientists and Read More
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Temperature-depth-recorder tags reveal modified diving behaviour by whale sharks at a provisioning site in Cebu, Philippines
More LessAuthors: Gonzalo Araujo, Jordan Thomson, Jessica Labaja, Sally Snow, James Montgomery and Alessandro PonzoBackground Whale shark tourism is increasingly popular at coastal predictable aggregations around the world. However, only one description accounts for provisioning of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), which is at Oslob, Philippines, where sharks are provisioned between 6 am and 1 pm daily within a demarked tourist interaction area. Understanding the potential effects of provisioning on the behaviour of this species is i Read More
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Daily abundance and residency patterns of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) at a unique provisioning site in the Philippines
More LessAuthors: Jordan Thomson, Gonzalo Araujo, Jessica Labaja, Emer Mccoy, Ryan Murray and Alessandro PonzoBackground Shark viewing tourism is a burgeoning global industry. Numerous operations provision sharks to increase sightings yet the effects of provisioning on shark behaviour are often poorly understood. At a unique provisioning site in Oslob, Cebu, Philippines, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) have become the focus of a mass tourism operation since late 2011, receiving over 185,000 tourists a year. Approach To better u Read More
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Testing the affinity of whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, to offshore oil platforms in a newly discovered aggregation site off the cost of Qatar in the Arabian Gulf
More LessAuthors: Steffen S. Bach, David P. Robinson, Ali A. Abdulrahman and Mohammad Al-JaidahBackground A large aggregation of whale sharks in the central part of the Arabian/Persian Gulf has recently been documented by the Qatar Whale Shark Research project. Observations made by offshore workers have indicated a continuous presence of whale sharks close to platforms in the Al Shaheen oil field during the summer months. It has been established that the sharks come here to feed on fish eggs of the Mackerel tun Read More
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An overview of whale shark movement ecology projects in the Red Sea Research Center
More LessBackground The Red Sea Research Center is part of a relatively new university on the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). KAUST officially opened in 2009 but began global collaborative research projects in 2007. Among the early discoveries arising from these collaborative projects was the identification of a whale shark aggregation site in the Red Sea. KAUST rese Read More
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Communities and corporates for conservation: A decade of conservation effort to save whale shark. Success story from Gujarat, India
More LessBackground Prior to 2001, due to the lack of legal protection, whale sharks were brutally and extensively hunted across the shores of Gujarat state in western India. Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) actively lobbied the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India, for legal protection of the species by placing it in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Approach A brief survey during 2004 along the Read More
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Inferring feeding habits of the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) using fatty acids, in the Northern Mexican Caribbean
More LessBackground In the Mexican Northern Caribbean, whale sharks feed on abundant plankton. Assessing the trophic role of this species is key to understanding its general ecology. Non-lethal sampling combined with biochemical methods such as analysis of fatty acids (FA) are promising approaches for investigating the assimilated diet of the whale shark. Approach During 2010 and 2011, a total of 68 whale shark samples Read More
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Distribution and feeding habitat characterization of whale sharks Rhincodon typus in the Northern Mexican Caribbean
More LessBackground The conservation of whale sharks, like other endangered species, requires, among others factors, an understanding of the effects that variability in habitat have on long-term species viability. In the Mexican Northern Caribbean, a Habitat Monitoring Program for the whale shark was established in 2005 to describe the spatio-temporal variability of environmental data and whale shark distribution. Approach From 2005– Read More
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Further evidence of the importance of St. Helena as habitat for whale sharks
More LessBackground Remote oceanic islands may play important roles in the life history of whale sharks; they have been hypothesized to be the site of mating or pupping in this species. One such island is St. Helena in the South Atlantic, which was recently discovered to play host to a seasonal population of adult male and female whale sharks. Approach Two collaborative expeditions have been conducted to St. Helena since the Read More
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Population structure of a Red Sea whale shark aggregation
More LessBackground The Red Sea has received little study when compared to other areas. This holds true for sharks in general and for whale sharks in particular. The discovery of a seasonal aggregation off the Saudi Arabian coast has made the targeted study of Red Sea whale sharks more feasible. Assessing the size and structure of this aggregation is a first step toward understanding the basin-scale population within the R Read More
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Tracking whale shark movements in a southern Maldivian atoll: An opportunistic feeder or reliant on the local fishing industry?
More LessAuthors: Francesco G. Comezzi, Hamish Taggart, Samantha D. Reynolds and Bradley M. NormanBackground Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are generally sighted during daytime. In the southern atolls of Maldives they are instead sighted primarily at night inside the atoll. Tuna fishermen attract baitfish with a strong halogen lamp, creating substantial plankton concentrations. Whale sharks opportunistically feed near the surface under fishing boats anchored in a 40 m deep lagoon, often disturbing bait collection. This Read More
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Scarring estimation in the largest whale shark aggregation
More LessBackground Ch'ooj Ajauil AC, a non-profit organization created in 2010 involving tour operator and external research collaborations, is devoted to monitoring and preserving marine pelagic life in the Mexican Caribbean. The organization explored the question, how many whale sharks are been damaged by tourism boats? Approach Six years of methodic registration of scars, injuries and abrasion on whale sharks, using video an Read More
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Preliminary observations on whale sharks in Nosy Be, Madagascar
More LessBackground The northern Mozambique Channel is a global hotspot for whale shark sightings, based on observer records from the tuna purse-seine fleet and published literature. Nosy Be Island (NW Madagascar) hosts a flourishing marine tourism industry based on viewing whale sharks and other species. Following reports of declining sightings in other regional hotspots, such as Tofo in Mozambique, it is important to establish Read More
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New insights into the South Ari atoll whale shark, Rhincodon typus, aggregation
More LessBackground Examples of aggregations of large Chondrichthyes are well known worldwide and occur mostly in response to seasonal increases in prey abundance. In the Maldives, whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, are thought to have a semi-annual residency pattern, moving west from December to April and east from May to November. However, an important aggregation of predominantly immature male whale sharks Read More
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Whale sharks, tunas and Azorean fisherman, BFF?
More LessAuthors: Jorge Fontes, Niall McGinty, Miguel Machete and Pedro AfonsoBackground The Azores archipelago lies at the limit of whale shark (WS) distribution in the North Atlantic, where sporadic sightings of “pintado” (local name) date back to the early tuna fishing operation from the mid XX century. From 1998 and 2008, only nine adult whale shark sightings had been confirmed by the Azores Fisheries Observer Program. However, from 2008 onwards there has been a dramatic increase in the nu Read More
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First ecotoxicological investigation in whale sharks of the Gulf of California (Mexico) using skin biopsy
More LessBackground The impact that pollutants have on whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) is a question that remains largely unexplored. Whale sharks (WSs) are known to aggregate seasonally in different areas in the Gulf of California. Although this species is protected in Mexico since 2001, habitats for most of these aggregations are not protected. Out of the 7 localities were they aggregate, 3 are protected whereas the other 4 need to Read More
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Tourist management of the whale shark in the Mexican Caribbean
More LessBackground The whale shark population in the Mexican Caribbean is one of the largest in the world. Its touristic exploitation began in 2002, with 200 visitors and 25 licensees, and by 2012 its popularity had risen to 30,000 visitors. In 2013 a load capacity study for the visitors was launched, and it was determined that no more than 160 boats should visit the aggregation each day. However, given the social pressure to give ac Read More
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The “Big Fish Network”: Using new technology to incentivise citizen science engagement in the Maldives
More LessBackground The use of citizen scientist contributions is a cost-effective approach that can provide valuable information, usually at scales larger than those attainable by individual researchers. The challenge, however, is to motivate contributors to continuously supply data when doing so can be time consuming and monotonous and where the results of the contributions they make are part of long term studies with infrequent Read More
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