IN THIS ISSUE

NOTICE BOARD

Whale Shark Sightings 
 Jan - Mar 2008

In-water Sightings
5 Reported sighting
2 in-water encounter
0 shark identified
0 shark sexed
Note: this is not whale shark season and no monitoring trips were run

Whale Shark Internships 

There are still two whale shark internships available for the coming season (see Sagren 5.4), interested parties should us.

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  New Report on Indian Ocean Whale Sharks

	Examples of major and minor scars: a) large bite & b) blunt trauma, both major injuries; d) abrasions & e) nicks from trailing edge of fin are minor injuries. Images courtesy C. Speed et al.

A new scientific paper has just been published on the incidence of scarring on whale sharks in the Indian Ocean from Ningaloo, Mozambique and Seychelles. The paper published in the Journal of Fish Biology was a collaborative effort between researchers working in these three areas and is a part of the on-going sharing of data and collaboration between Indian Ocean whale shark scientists.

The article reports that scarring was most prevalent in the Seychelles aggregation (67%, 534 of 797), followed by Mozambique (37%, 67 of 180) and Ningaloo (27%, 84 of 311). 

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Whale Shark Watch (WSW) formed by Rob and Samantha Bester, celebrates 10 years of existence this year having been established in 1998. The goal of WSW is to actively collect data on Whale Shark occurrences and behaviour patterns in Sodwana bay, South Africa, thereby contributing information to management strategies for the conservation of Whale Shark in this region.  

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Whale Shark Watch (WSW) formed by Rob and Samantha Bester, celebrates 10 years of existence this year having been established in 1998. The goal of WSW is to actively collect data on Whale Shark occurrences and behaviour patterns in Sodwana bay, South Africa, thereby contributing information to management strategies for the conservation of Whale Shark in this region.  

Full article>>

Johan Anderson, the MCSS micro-light pilot is recovering from a potentially fatal hang-gliding accident in which he suffered a ‘perched dislocation, commonly know as the ‘hangman’s break’. Luckily the doctors were able to relocate the vertebrae without any apparent damage to his spinal chord and Johan now has some nice internal iron-ware locking them back together again!

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The Georgia aquarium has announced that the public will be allowed to swim with the captive whale sharks in their aquarium. The “swim with gentle giants” programme allows visitors to swim or SCUBA dive with whale sharks in their Ocean Voyager aquarium exhibit. The cost announced for the swim program is $190 and the dive program is $290.

The whale shark exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium has been the subject of some controversy since it first opened in 2006 with many people being critical of the internment of young whale sharks in captivity.

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