|
Geoff
Taylor, a medical Doctor, has been photographing whale
sharks for over 12 years in Ningaloo, Western Australia,
and his enthusiasm and photos helped kick start the whale
shark eco-tourism industry there. Now his impressive whale
shark photo collection has become the core of a research
programme at the Australian Institute of Marine Science
(AIMS) led by Dr. Mark Meekan.
|
|
|
|
A
dramatic photograph from the Ningaloo programme
showing severe injures.
Photo Allison Richards |
|
Photographs taken by Dr Taylor, along with those of other
photographers are being analysed by researchers at AIMS to
identify individual animals by their distinctive spot
patterns. With the help of Dr Corey Bradshaw at Charles
Darwin University population estimates have been
established using computer models. These have indicated
that the Ningaloo aggregation may be part of a population
of approximately 670-1300 individuals, with many of the
animals returning to Ningaloo in successive years. Dr.
Meekan says that the number of sharks suggests they are
more vulnerable than we first thought. "We don’t
know if the Ningaloo numbers are increasing or dropping
off. We fear they mingle with aggregations in South East
Asia where they are hunted for their flesh and fins,"
Dr Meekan said. Also it was noted that of the 276 sharks
photographed, almost 10% showed evidence of boat strike
through body scarring.
While photo ID has been associated with estimating whale
population sizes, this is the first time this sort of
identification system has been used to provide a census on
a shark population.
|
