April 2003: The first sighting of the shark with two horrendous bites, probably from a great white shark. Almost the entire dorsal fin had been bitten off and a large chunk had been carved from the sharks left side. The shark was named 'Lucky'!

Photo: Steven Gibson

July 2003: Allison was fortunate to see and photograph Lucky showing that it was very definitely a survivor with its wounds already beginning to show clear signs of healing.

Photo: Allison Richards

June 2004: This shark is definitely a regular visitor to Ningaloo as it has been seen on at least three occasions in June of this year. Recent photos show that the damage to the dorsal fin has completely healed over, leaving just a vestige of the original fin. The wound on the left side of the shark has now closed over, the thinner under- belly skin growing faster and leaving a prominent white blaze along the lateral keel of the shark.

Photo: Allison Richards

 
Allison is starting a whale shark identification project which she hopes to extend to other Ningaloo dive operators in the coming year; this will allow a better understanding of the population size and distribution as well as any losses during migrations. The photos will also be submitted to the EcoOcean photo-id library.

Her efforts and those of her colleagues are especially important as they emphasise the real value of support from the non-scientific public for conservation initiatives such as those on the whale shark. Worldwide only a tiny amount of funding is available for this type of research and the input of the general public can be of critical importance in helping to discover the facts about these species.

Post Script:
Since initially publishing this article we have been advised by Brad Norman of EcOcean that 'Lucky' has in fact been identified on their on-line database as shark A-076 first identified by Brad at Ningaloo in 1999 when he was able to accurately measured it as a 3.18m male. As such this particular instance also provides some intriguing information as to the growth rates of young whale sharks as it has nearly doubled size in a four year period. It also proves the value of pattern recognition software such as the Shepherd Project used at EcOcean, keep up the good work!