A penny for your thought, and a years wage for a whale shark

Warning:  this blog entry does not contain the slightest trace of humour or sarcasm and is purely of an educational nature.  If this doesn’t appeal to you, please stop reading here and jump to the next entry.

 

The organisation we work with (Quest) has been based here in Tofo since ten years back.  The main operation is circulating around research and protection of the marine life.  Quest believes that this place is unique in the world because of its returning population of whale sharks.  Nowhere else in the world are there so many whale sharks regularly visiting.

Sea safaris with whale sharks exist in only a few places around the world.  In Australia for example they send up a spotter plane to locate a whale shark, the safari boats are then speeding huge distances to the location to allow for swimming with the big fish.  For this participants can pay over £300 each.  In Tofo however, there are lots of the fish around and it is enough to just go out a little bit outside the beach for an hour or two and people will see whale sharks.  For comparison, a safari here with similar experience costs £25.

Quest’s aim is to create a protected area with national park status, which would allow for implementing restrictions in order to protect the animals.  The whale shark is an endangered species and is hunted by many fishermen because of their fins.  The fins are valued a huge amount on the Chinese market as status symbols for the ever growing number of Chinese dollar millionaires.  Lots of whale sharks are therefore regularly captured, having their fins cut off and then dumped back into the sea, often alive.  The fishermen can potentially earn what would correspond to a years wage for capturing a whale shark.  Without knowing anything about animal rights and the importance of marine life protection, who can blame them when their ancestors have been fishing on the same beach for centuries.

Quest’s mission is to work closely with the community to establish a support for a national park and to act as lobbyists to also gain support from the local government.