,
2003
In a world first, a "Crittercam", a camera provided by the
National Geographic Society, will be attached to a whale shark’s head,
to reveal exactly what lures them so predictably to Ningaloo Reef every
year.
Cruise leader for the whale shark project Dr Mark Meekan from AIMS
said, "It will be like sending down a pair of human eyes on the
back of a shark. They can show us what is of interest to them rather
than us second guessing."
Ningaloo Marine Park, on the north west coast of Western Australia,
is the only place known to be regularly visited by the whale shark. They
arrive each year from March to May and aggregate near the reef front
making Ningaloo one of the only places in the world where tourists can
snorkel with sharks.
Three different types of tracking tags will be trialed when the
scientific team sets sail to the reef this week. The whale sharks will
be gathering information that could help to protect the species.
Archival tags will be used to store light, temperature and depth
data. Satellite tags will beam information about the location of the
shark every hour, tracking the path of the shark up to 18 months,
wherever they roam. Acoustic tags will work like a ‘fish finder’
tracking short-term movements of the sharks at Ningaloo.
"Past long term tracking attempts have recorded only the
location of sharks. This time we hope the whale sharks will become
remote data gathering vehicles collecting information about where
they’re diving, what water they like, and what food source they
target, giving us a picture of their daily lives for the first
time," said Dr Meekan.
Researchers fear the whale sharks follow the currents from Ningaloo
Reef to dangerous territory in south east Asia where their fins have
become extremely valuable as an ingredient in Asian cuisine, fetching
US$100 a kilo and making them a prized target for fishermen in the
region.
Dr Meekan said the size of stocks worldwide is unknown and because
the sharks are slow to reproduce they could be susceptible to
exploitation.
"At Ningaloo the whale sharks are mostly teenagers, about six to
seven metres in length. They can grow up to 18 metres and 150 years of
age. We have no idea where the adults go to breed. We hope it’s not in
areas where they’re heavily fished," he said.
Under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered
Species, countries fishing whale sharks are required to report their
catches but Dr Meekan argues this may not be enough to protect the
species from a dramatic crash in numbers.
The research is in its fourth year and is a collaborative effort
between AIMS, CSIRO and the Western Australian Department of
Conservation and Land Management (DCLM), and several US research groups
including SCRIPPS Institute of Oceanography, HUBBS Seaworld, the New
England Aquarium and the National Geographic Society.
For the remote seaside town of Exmouth the whale sharks are a major
source of lifeblood generating $12 million from tourism.
