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One of the chief concerns of the Marine Conservation Society,
based at Seychelles International Airport in Mahé,
is to save the Whale shark from extinction.
About Whale sharks
Whale sharks have very distinctive colourings; their dorsal
surface is covered with white spots and stripes. They are
known as filter feeders, feeding on zooplankton, small
fish, and squid. Their large mouths engulf huge volumes of
water which is filtered by a sieve-like organ inside the gill
slits on the sides of their head. Whale sharks are approximately
22 to 30 feet long, but they can grow to as long as 60 feet
and weigh up to 34 tonnes. Considering that a big elephant
weighs six tonnes, the Whale shark is a very heavy beast indeed.
Monitoring Whale sharks
Whale sharks tend to inhabit the warm waters around the Equatorial
belt. Very little is known about them, so monitoring is
essential to form an understanding of their behaviour, subsistence,
and mating seasons in order to save them. Over the last five
years, Whale sharks in the Indian Ocean have been slaughtered
to cater for the Far Eastern restaurant business and their
numbers have vastly declined to the point that they're now
considered an endangered species.
Whale sharks are the biggest fish on the planet and
they're easier to spot in the waters than almost anything.
But because they're a threatened species, and because they're
very individualistic and don't swim in schools, they're not
easy to find, so initially whale conservationists go plane-spotting
for the sharks using planes. The microlight is the
aircraft of choice because it can fly low and it's a lot cheaper
than a helicopter or a cessna.
Tagging Whale sharks in the Seychelles
In October, the sharks arrive to bask in the deep
blue, warm waters of the Indian Ocean and feed off
plankton on the islands of the Seychelles, so
this is the best time to tag and monitor the whales. This
is done by someone diving down and harpooning the back of
the shark with an electronic tag, inscribed with 'S' for the
Seychelles, a different colour for each year, and a number
to identify the individual shark. Often the shark will shake
off their old tag, so underwater photos are taken to try and
identify the ones that have returned. There have been over
70 sharks tagged in the first four years since the project
started in 2001.
Tourists can, for a fee, help out with spotting the Whale
sharks with David Rowat from the Marine Conservation
Society Seychelles by taking out a microlight to survey
the sea from the air in the morning. In the afternoon, you
go on the boat with the scientists and snorkel with the Whale
sharks, all under the supervision of David and his team. There
are strict rules: you can't come closer than four metres (thirteen
feet) from the shark, no flash photography may be used, and
no more than eight people can be around a Whale shark at any
one time. |
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