Whale Sharks

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 28 2007 | By: admin

In preparation for our Tagging Expedition 2008 Volker and Nimu went to check out Kinondo reef this morning. Kinondo is one of our whale shark hotspots (see the dive site map on our website www.giantsharks.org). Unfortunately the conditions weren’t great and the sea was a little rough so whilst there were plenty of beautiful fish (as always) there no whale sharks around! Of course it is extremely difficult to spot them in those kind of conditions but we like to keep our hand in and check out the various sites regularly.

Something that we are trying to get started on is a regular aerial survey of our coast line, in particular a whale shark (and turtle) survey. We were amazed at how easy it was to spot whale sharks with the use of a spotter plane during the last expedition in February 2007. Whale shark sightings had been very low despite it being whale shark season. The visiting scientists had stressed the need for a spotter plane during the previous expedition in 2005 and so we went to great lengths to secure a plane and a very kind local pilot for 2007. None of us were prepared for the amount of sharks spotted with such regularity and ease over the expedition period. Even the scientists (who have been tagging whale sharks for years) were excited by the record numbers of whale sharks seen. We continue to work hard together with the KWS and the local community to get an aerial survey up and running because without it we cannot have a complete picture of how many whale sharks there are on our coast.