Breakaway Destination Guides (International)

The biggest fish in the sea, a whale shark can weigh many tons and grow to more than 45 feet in length. It’s named not only for its great size but its diet; like some whale species, the whale shark feeds on plankton. A filtering apparatus in its mouth allows it to capture tiny marine life from the vast amount of water it swallows. But it is a shark—a kind of fish with cartilage rather than bone for a skeleton—a slow-moving, polka-dotted, deep-diving shark.

The animals spend most of their lives in deep water, but they congregate seasonally here off the coast of the Yucatán, as well as off Australia, the Philippines, Madagascar and elsewhere. No one knows for sure how many whale sharks are in these waters, but the best estimate is 1,400. The global whale shark population may number in the hundreds of thousands.

With the increased interest by tourists, some governments have begun regulating access to or have drafted guidelines for correct observation. At the Ningaloo Reef in Australia there is now a minimum 3 meter distance that must be maintained by divers and snorkelers. In the Phillipines no touching of the whale sharks is allowed.

There are certainly times and cases where tourism alters the behavior of wild animals. That by itself is not necessarily harmful to the individual animals nor to the species. The life cycle of Whale sharks is an unknown at this point in time. Very little is known about them. We do know that they migrate, following the seasons of the ocean as plankton, fish spawing and other food sources increases in various areas of the world. There is some fear that increased viewing pressure by tourists may cause the animals to move to other locations.

This is a species that until recently was largely ignored by the scientific community. Little research has been carried out. With the recent increase in interaction between whale sharks and dive or snorkel tourists, especially in Australia, scientists have begun to find that there is grant money available to allow them to study the whale sharks in greater detail. Whale sharks are considered a threatened species. In some areas of the world they are protected from fishing, but in many other locations they are still hunted. Whale shark meat is eaten throughout Asia. The meat is the most expensive of the all the sharks. Shark fins from a whale shark are said to fetch as much as $400 or $500 in Taiwan.

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Australia Coral Coast - Swim with Whale Sharks

Hamanasi: Belize Diving|Belize Snorkeling|Belize SCUBA - The best in Belize diving and Belize snorkeling. Our experienced PADI 5 star Golden Palm rated scuba team dives the Turneffe Atoll, Lighthouse Reef Atoll, The Great Blue Hole, Glovers Reef Atoll, and the Southern Barrier Reef.

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