A diver saved baby whaleshark from fisherman catch

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Commendable! I hope this is not the start of a routine new scam by the local fishermen...



Wow! Incredible! They seem to be just below the surface - did they land into a conflict/fight with the fishermen on the boat? Was it done surreptitiously?

P

I think that incident in Ambon is a one time deal. That happened 2 years ago. I haven’t heard of a scam going around. If it were, we would have heard it and going viral in the social media.

The one in Cendrawasih Bay, the fishermen build a fishing platform on top of a boat or two called Bagan for days to week of tuna fishing in the blue water. They put their life bait of anchovies in the net, underneath the Bagan. Whalesharks often come by & suck the oil & bugs out of the dead anchovies sitting at the bottom of the nets. The fishermen are always happy to see the whalesharks. The gentle giants are believed to bring good luck for the fishermen & they catch more tunas when the giant fish come over. The fishermen also throw more of the dead anchovies to the whalesharks.

A few years ago dive operators heard about this, visited the Bagan & talked to the fishermen to see if they let divers to dive underneath the Bagan. Agreement was done for the dive operator to “rent” the Bagan at the cost of one day earning of fishing. Since then visiting the Bagan to dive with whalesharks are becoming popular and one of the main attraction when you go liveaboard diving in Cendrawasih Bay. I think this is one of the few place that you can dive (not snorkel) with whalesharks almost 100% guarantee.

When I was there 2 years ago, the fishermen were happy to see us diving underneath their Bagan. I saw 4 whalesharks sucking on the nets.

My guess in the video above, the net somehow got torn open & the whalesharks got in, entangled & trapped inside the nets. The fishermen were asking the divers to help them release the trapped whalesharks.

 
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