Stevens, a shark biologist, and Matthew G. Horsham, 

 a mechanical engineer, both at Australia's Com- 

 monwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Or- 

 ganisation in Hobart, we attached these instruments 

 to several whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef. Some 

 tagged sharks moved northeast toward Indonesia, and 

 some moved northwest. 



Tags of various kinds have been attached to whale 

 sharks in the waters of several other countries as well, 

 including Belize, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, the Sey- 

 chelles, and Taiwan. Most of those tagging studies 

 are not yet published, but preliminary data suggest 

 that whale sharks migrate long distances. One shark 

 traveled from Mexico's Sea of Cortez across the Pa- 

 cific, a distance of more than 8,000 miles. 



Whale sharks have long been hunted at many of 

 their seasonal gathering sites, typically by ar- 

 tisanal fishermen using harpoons. In some places the 

 catches have been quite high: fishermen in Gujarat, 

 India, for instance, took 591 whale sharks in 1999 and 

 2000, before whale shark hunting was banned na- 

 tionally in 2001 . Whale sharks often wind up in Asian 

 markets, particularly in Taiwan, where they are known 

 as "tofu sharks," for their soft, white flesh. There, the 

 meat and fins fetch the highest price of any fish. 



Signs of overfishing have already begun to appear. 

 Whale shark catches have declined in several places 

 that have been fished intensively. Meekan recently 

 suggested that the Ningaloo Reef whale sharks are 

 smaller by about six feet, on average, than they were 

 a decade ago. Because they grow so slowly, reproduce 



so late, and congregate in small, migratory popula- 

 tions, whale sharks are particularly vulnerable to over- 

 fishing. Indeed, the World Conservation Union, a 

 Switzerland-based environmental group, has listed 

 them since 2000 as vulnerable to extinction. 



Yet there are some hopeful signs, too. In the past 

 decade several nations have banned whale shark hunt- 

 ing — though opportunistic capture appears to con- 

 tinue in some of those nations and elsewhere. Tai- 

 wan's fishery, perhaps the largest, persists with an of- 

 ficial quota of sixty-five whale sharks per year. Still, 

 it seems likely that the whale shark catch is lower than 

 it was in the unregulated past, and several countries, 

 such as the Philippines, have converted whale shark 

 fishing centers into tourism destinations. Beginning 

 in 2003, the Convention on International Trade in 

 Endangered Species ot Wild Fauna and Flora (also 

 known as CITES) imposed permit requirements on 

 trade in whale shark products. 



Just as encouraging has been the recent surge in 

 scientific attention. Western Australia hosted the 

 first International Whale Shark Conference in May 

 2005, bringing together scientists, resource man- 

 agers, and conservationists from more than twenty 

 nations. Perhaps the most valuable outcome of the 

 meeting is still being played out, in the relationships 

 and collaborations it nurtured among interested par- 

 ties from around the world. If science can improve 

 human understanding of the whale shark, future 

 generations will be able to indulge the simple pleas- 

 ure I have enjoyed — the chance to swim with the 



biggest fish in the sea. 



□ 



Life-size whale shark figures, made of bamboo and rice-sack cloth, are transported to a festival 

 held each year in the Philippine fishing village of Donsol. The festival celebrates the arrival of whale 

 sharks, or butanding, as they are known locally. Swimming with the protected whale sharks has 

 become a popular tourist activity since 1 998, when the animals were first discovered in the area. 



April 2006 NATL' R A l HISTORY 



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