VISUALIZATION

Numbers of the whale shark ‐ the world's largest fish and one of its rarest – are steady and may even be increasing in one of its vital habitats, a revolutionary study by scientists and the general public has revealed.

The remarkable success of the online survey of whale sharks carried out by Earthwatch volunteers, tourists, divers and researchers at Ningaloo, WA has prompted scientists to issue a worldwide call to holiday makers and divers to join in a global effort to monitor and protect the largest fish in the sea - thought to be at risk in the waters off many countries.

"Besides showing that whale sharks can increase where they are well-protected, we have also demonstrated the power of citizen-science, that ordinary people around the world can make a real contribution to serious research and conservation," says Brad Norman, Project Coordinator and who founderd of the ECOCEAN whale shark project.

ECOCEAN, a not-for-profit group with offices in Australia and USA, has pioneered this new program – aimed at engaging members of the public to help monitor and ultimately protect wildlife - both in the sea and potentially recently on land through the development of similar programs for other endangered species.

“Thanks to increasing levels of data collection,” saysid Project Coordinator Brad Norman, “we’re finally able to estimate how many whale sharks appear annually, how long they typically remain at Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP), their patterns of arrival and departure, and shifts in their population structure.” The team’s new findings have been published in the journal Endangered Species Research (ESR).

The team’s new findings have been published in the journal Endangered Species Research (ESR) and Jason Holmberg, lead author on the ESR study states that “Using an unprecedented number of photographs and video collected from the public and from the dive industry at NMP, we have been able to create statistical models demonstrating a modestly increasing annual population of around 150 sharks. We’re also seeing an increase in the number of smaller whale sharks feeding at the reef and returning in subsequent years. Why are more and more juveniles arriving on the reef? It’s unclear, but it’s positive news.”

This study complements a collaborative study with Curtin University, Western Australia, the results of which were published this month in the Journal of Ecotourism (JE), acknowledging the whale shark ecotourism industry as a boon for local communities working to protect this threatened species.

“Our results indicate that without whale sharks at NMP, up to AUD 4.7 6 million would be lost from the local economy” notes Norman “and similar economic benefits could be available at other whale shark ‘hotspots’ around the world. Therefore, providing it is well-managed, this form of non-consumptive exploitation should continue to be promoted as a sustainable alternative to unsustainable hunting of this threatened species”.

The team’s findings and techniques are useful beyond Western Australia. “For the first time, our recent study demonstrates a set of population models that can be expanded to incorporate other whale shark aggregations in the Indian Ocean if and when sharks can be linked between them.” saysid Mr. Holmberg.

“We are constructing a regional research framework. Community monitoring using the ECOCEAN Library has recorded more than 500 individual whale sharks visiting NMP since the industry began in 1993. A related study in the Philippines in collaboration with WWF has so far recorded 250 individual animals there, while another in Mozambique, conducted by the Manta & Whale Shark Research Centre, has confirmed sightings of more than 350 identified individuals.

Data from Ningaloo represent only a snapshot of the migrations of these sharks, but it’s a significant, long-term baseline. Moving forward, we can now begin to cooperatively integrate and analyze data from other study sites and obtain a broader picture of the species. For such a long-lived, far-ranging animal, a big-picture view is important – especially to promote global protection. It is important to note that the whale shark is still considered ‘vulnerable to extinction’, and with such a small population, continuing caution and protection is imperative.”

However, the research team notes that despite the sophisticated tools pioneered at Ningaloo, some fundamental mysteries remain.

“There is still a large amount of mystery surrounding these sharks, and there remains a fair amount of fundamental exploration ahead. Of over 1,300 whale sharks we have tagged with our partners in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, very few have been sighted at other study locations, even though some whale sharks have been tracked for thousands of kilometers. We couldn’t conduct our research on any meaningful scale without the public’s help,” saysid Mr. Norman, “and we’re looking forward to a continued partnership with ecotourism at Ningaloo and elsewhere to take this project forward.”

ECOCEAN (USA) President Dr Zaven Arzoumanian notes that “Without the direct contribution of data by the public, we would never have been able to perform our analysis and get such an in-depth look at the whale sharks of Ningaloo. Tourists and tour operators there are part of a small army of individuals collecting and sharing data globally for the species. Our framework at www.whaleshark.org supports collaborative research and provides the public with the opportunity to view and contribute data. They can also contribute home computing power to our grid computer at www.sharkgrid.org, in a similar way to the SETI@home (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) project. This allows even those who have never seen a whale shark to help protect them by participating in a global, online research community.”

For more information about the research of ECOCEAN, including videos, visit the ECOCEAN Whale Shark Photo-identification Library at http://www.whaleshark.org.