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Whale Sharks are our friends! Come and say hello!

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:21:26 GMT

What a wonderful opportunity to enjoy this amazing animal

We have a wonderful opportunity for you, your family and your friends, to take a trip to see, and potentially interact, with the most amazing and majestic of marine animals, the whale sharks. See link.

Whale sharks are animals and are the largest marine fish in the ocean!

They are not whales, they are sharks. They are filter feeders, meaning they need to eat vast amounts of small shrimp, fish and plankton as their staple diet! Humans are not on their menu… at all!

As this trip can only be done certain times of the month, we would recommend that you time your trip to see these unbelievable marine animals, as this is an encounter that should not be missed.

Facts of majestic whale shark (Rhincodon typus)

They are an inquisitive creature and have the ability to learn and often want to investigate and interact with humans when they come in close proximity.

Their behaviour is one of the most docile of the sharks that exist and does not present any danger to humans. Snorkelling, diving and freediving with whale sharks, is a unique and special life experience.

Despite giving birth to live young, they are not classified as mammals. They are cold blooded and breathe oxygen through their gills through water extraction. They are very large in length, hence the name ‘whale’, growing up to 18 metres long, although the average size is 10m.

In the Galapagos 13m+ whale sharks visit the Darwin and Wolf islands to give birth to their live young. They reproduce up to 300 live babies as the whale shark, along with the great white sharks and basking sharks, are from the Ovoviviparous species.

This means they give birth to the babies inside the mother’s womb, initially as an embryo inside an egg: after a period they break free and live inside the mother’s womb feeding until big enough (up to 60cm long), to be given birth to as live babies. They are rarely seen less than 3m in length in the ocean where they slowly emerge.

Be Aware

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:48:25 GMT

ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE WEST SUMBAWA ….

Five of the seven known species of sea turtle can be found in the waters off West Sumbawa. The animals perform important ecosystem services, such as regulating seagrass growth, but globally all seven species of sea turtle are listed as threatened, and some critically endangered.

Poaching of sea turtle eggs is the main driver of the crisis — in some countries, around 90% of turtle nests are destroyed for the illegal wildlife trade. In much of West Sumbawa, turtle eggs are entrenched in both the culture and the economy.

The day after meeting district chief Musyafirin, the head of the district fisheries department, Amin Sudiono, drove two hours south to Sekongkang, a ward on the southwest coast of the island popular with experienced surfers.

The purpose of the trip was to begin the delicate fieldwork of changing behavior in a community where turtle eggs are an important source of income..

What's the Good News?

More tourists are expected in West Sumbawa and this will rescue the need for locals to hunt for the eggs. Police watch the beaches day and night.

READ ON...

Protecting marine life is a big benefit to local communities, too

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:48:25 GMT

A new study of the Mesoamerican Reef in the Caribbean found that marine protected areas (MPAs) are not only beneficial for conservation but can also lift up the socioeconomic status of the local and Indigenous communities that live near them.
Led by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the study used data from the Healthy Reef Initiative and USAID to analyze social and economic factors like income, food security and the rates of stunted growth connected to chronic malnutrition in children.
One reason that MPAs benefit local and Indigenous communities is that no-take zones reach their carrying capacity as fish populations grow and recover, creating “spillover” into waters without fishing restrictions.

Less than 3% of the world’s oceans are currently protected . Conservationists say that figure needs to hit 30% to prevent major diversity loss and climate change. But marine conservation can be tricky: local and Indigenous communities often rely on fishing for their livelihood, and blocking off certain areas of the water with no-take zones can sometimes be controversial.

But a new study , which focused on the Mesoamerican Reef in the Caribbean, found that well-enforced marine protected areas (MPAs) are not only beneficial for conservation but can also lift up the socioeconomic status of the local and Indigenous communities that live near them.

There are “co-benefits for fish and people associated with MPAs,” the study said, “highlighting the potential value of MPAs in achieving multiple sustainable development goals.”

Led by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the study used USAID Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data to analyze social and economic factors like income, food security and the rates of stunted growth connected to chronic malnutrition in children. It also pulled data from the Healthy Reef Initiative to compare the biomass of fish populations in protected areas.

The results showed that there’s a correlation between well-enforced, highly protected MPAs in the Mesoamerican Reef and the long-term social and economic well-being of local communities. Relative household income was 33% higher in communities near the best-protected MPAs, compared to communities that weren’t near one. Young children living near MPAs were also half as likely to experience stunted growth.

READ ON...

WHALE SHARKS ARE OUR FRIENDS… BUT DON’T TOUCH!

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:48:24 GMT

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