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Manila,
Luzon
 Themes
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More
Information
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The whale shark
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Meet
the biggest fish in the world!
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Do
you want to meet the biggest fish in the world, a shark
which can grow up to 9 meters in length? The Philippines is one of the
countries where there is the possibility to arrange such a meeting!
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Meeting whale sharks in the underwater-world became an attraction for
many divers In the nearby seas of the
south-eastern part of Luzon. |
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Characteristic
features of the whale shark
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Not
dangerous for human beings
Whale sharks live in tropical, warm waters all around the world. For
eating, they swim quite near the water surface.
Whale sharks are not dangerous for human
beings, on the contrary. Though their mouth is about 1,5 meter wide, the opening to the stomach is very small. So, they are not
able to swallow a human body. Whale sharks only live on plankton and
krill.
Length and weight
When they have a length of 4,5 meters, the weight is about 750 kg. The maximum
length of a grownup whale shark is 13-14 meters. The whale shark then has a weight of
approximately 1500 kilograms.
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The
"Butanding", a lucrative business
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For the local tourist
businessmen in the village of Donsol in the south-eastern part of Luzon, the possibility to arrange eco-tours to the whale sharks became a
good opportunity to set up businesses. The local tourism council has set up
already whale shark
interaction tours, which includes swimming with the butanding,
the local name for whale shark. |
Dive vessels bring the eco-tourists to the locations. Especially the
period between the months of January and June, the time when the spotted
giants usually appear, is the best period to make a chance to meet
the whale sharks.
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December
- January the best period
December and January are
the peak months, when warm streams bring plankton close to the shore. But even in this period, there is no guarantee that you can meet
the Butanding. The swimming area of the
whale sharks is wide and stretches out over a wide territory in the sea. Whale shark spotters, fishermen who
try
to make some money by offering their services to the tourists, will give you a
good chance to see and meet the whale sharks. However, spotters are still no guarantee.
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Threats
in the past Not so
long ago, the fishermen of the village of Donsol were hunting for the
whale sharks. It was a period of diminishing the whale shark population.
Catching this huge fish was rather easy, because the whale shark is slow
and docile, making itself an easy target. |
World
Wildlife Fund
Happily, fishermen discovered that whale shark tourism makes good
business. The World Wildlife Fund started learning local fishermen
how to get tourists close to whale sharks and showed the fishermen the way
how to shift livelihoods to become tour operators or "spotters", capable
to look out for the whale sharks. |
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Pictures: taken by members of the
Whale
Shark research Group
research@whaleshark.org
Copyright
1999 Whale Shark Research Group, inc
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