Camping out on large, anchored, floating fishing platforms, known as bagans, the fishermen use a series of generator powered lights to attract small baitfish, ikan puri, and squid to the large nets suspended below the bagan at night. Once or twice a night these nets are manually hauled in the hope of a bountiful catch. Whale sharks sense the capture and are attracted to the platforms to reap some of the reward. The fishermen have traditionally thrown the sharks tidbits in payment of their ‘service’ of being lucky and everyone is happy. This practice has recently evolved into something of a very low-key tourist industry (we didn’t see another such vessel the entire trip!) where long-range liveaboard dive boats that can make the trek south are rewarded by the fishermen keeping the whale sharks around by offering them continuous snacks. The fishers are paid (as well as the local chief and head policeman), visitors have an incredible experience and, best of all, the whale sharks are not hunted. A win- win all around.
So, what’s it like swimming with the world’s largest fish? Whereas in most other whale shark destinations the animals are continuously on the move and the human experience is often one of watching it gracefully glide past here, In Kwatisore Bay (a smaller bay within Cenderawasih Bay) these gigantic animals actually interact with divers and snorkelers. Once in the water the visitor simply ‘hangs out’ close to the bagan and the whale sharks come. While on scuba different individuals would stay with me, even as I drifted in the slight current, away from the bagan and swim repeated circles around me with an apparent sense of curiosity. I could spend a full tank of air alone with a whale shark as if it was only the two of us left on the planet – magical! Closer to the bagan one could chose what sort of interaction to have. In my case, with a wide-angle lens on my camera, I put myself as close as possible to the gentle stream of water, full of fishy bits, being pumped into the ocean by the men above me. I became part of the furniture and it was not unusual
for one, two or three whale sharks to ‘stand’ vertically in the water with huge mouths wide open under the stream of water jostling for position next to me. Sometimes another, unseen, individual would ‘sneak up’ from behind and gently, ever so gently, nudge me out of the way to get in on the action. They were conscious of exactly where I was and the space I filled in their world and were so utterly respectful of me that I was amazed. Even when in open water with them they would cruise by, often less than a meter below me, and, even though the head had passed by long before, the last flick of the tail as they passed would contort unnaturally, if necessary, to avoid contact.
Nearly all the individuals we encountered were subadult or juvenile males. Some were tagged (many by Brent Stewart who was with us on the trip) in an ongoing scientific study to learn more about these charismatic beasts. Incredibly very little is known at all about the world’s largest fish. ‘Our’ individuals could not count as a population, they were all males. It was more of a gathering really. But where do they come from? Where do they go? Where do baby whale sharks grow up? How long do they live? Where are the females? A study by Jonathan Green, The Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galapagos National Park suggests that the northern isles of the Galapagos archipelago might be an important breeding ground for the species. There, for example, it is nearly all, gigantic, adult females, up to 12 meters and 20 tons, that one sees while diving. It remains an incredible truth that while whale sharks are being slaughtered for their fins (that command some of the highest prices in Asian fish markets) we know almost nothing about their ecology and hence how, or where best, to protect them. Indeed some of the individuals that we came to know had what looked like human-induced scars on their snouts. They seemed to be either machete cuts (perhaps to discourage them from stealing fish somewhere) or from having ploughed into the knife-like gossamers of oceanic drift nets.
20 - SEVENSEAS