Divers Riding Whale Shark

[Tom_Ivan]

Pretty sure the shark would have been more than capable of swimming off it was truly bothered? Divers aren't fast swimmers.

Also, the biggest danger to this endangered species is international demand for their fins and liver oil. I'd much rather see people getting a kick out of interacting with them than have the shark loose its popularity.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

We have whale sharks over here washing ashore because of defunct discharges from lake Okeechobee and you guys are ready to arrest some kids playing with a whale shark while its feeding.

Why don't you take that energy and put it to something that actually matters regarding preservation of our oceans and the marine life. Like start a fund to start picking up the great pacific garbage patch, or cleaning up the plastic from all the beaches in Asia, or marching against dumping toxic water in the ocean.

Like most just to make yourself look better in others eyes you wish harm on these kids, while silently drinking your daily single use water bottle.

 

[Joneill]

You miss the fact that the practice is illegal in Indonesia and these were not kids!

 

[IncreaseMyT]

You miss the fact that the practice is illegal in Indonesia.

Every day, no less than 20,000 tons of waste and 340,000 tons of wastewater, mostly from 2,000 textile factories, are disposed directly into the once clear and pristine waterways of the Citarum River. No wonder the fish are largely gone in the third-biggest river in Java.

Indonesia’s Citarum: The World’s Most Polluted River

 

[Joneill]

Indonesia’s Citarum: The World’s Most Polluted River

Apples and oranges - doesn’t make harassing wildlife OK either!

 

[Miyaru]

Police arrest divers for riding whale shark in West Papua’s Cenderawasih Bay | Coconuts Jakarta

Reaction from LOB:

 

[Jay]

I wonder which part of "look, don't touch" they couldn't understand.

Glad that they've got more severe penalties coming their way apart from having their future dives cancelled.

IMO fines for intentional or negligent touching in a Marine Park are highly appropriate.

 

[IncreaseMyT]

There is not a SHRED of evidence on this planet that proves what these kids did is harmful to whale sharks, not a shred. Yet you claim it as true.

 

[Exigent]

Where do you live? I am coming over to ride on your back for the day. I know you wont like it but who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do?

Some marine animals cannot defend themselves, so it is up to us to police ourselves and use good judgement. I am sure the animals do not want to be bothered anymore than you do.

 

[Scared Silly]

Here are a couple of peer reviewed scientific studies on the effects of interaction with whale sharks:

(PDF) Monitoring the effects of tourism on...

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ae67/c72daad2962c4bb722c60117cd4a108f7e9b.pdf

These address distance with disturbance.

Another study showed no long effect with encounters (and unlike the studies above did not look at the length of the encounters) :

Multi-Year Impacts of Ecotourism on Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) Visitation at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia

My take-a-way. One might continue to encounter whale sharks but for less time due to people getting too close.

Though in the Philippines here are the laws in the USA : Frequent Questions – Feeding or Harassing Marine Mammals in the Wild | NOAA Fisheries

A whale shark's skeleton is cartilaginous (not boney). Such animals fall into the Chondrichthyes class.

Regarding the polluted areas. While there are many areas it does not preclude protecting other areas and animals. Your argument is known as a straw man argument.