Molest any wildlife lately?

[Missdirected]

And if he does, Im not gonna follow him..

Agreed.

 

[DavidPT40]

If a whaleshark feels like it is being molested, it wont hang around very long, if they feel comfortable, they can be curious critters and keep coming back to hang around and check you out.

For some reason, whale sharks don't try to swim away if they are being attacked. I've read in "Shadows in the Sea" that whale sharks dont try to dive away even if they are being harpooned. They just remain at the surface.


Some divers even managed to walk on the back of a surfaced whale shark.

"We clambered on the shark, looking it over closely, even looking into is mouth," he reported. "It showed no signs of concern except when we bothered its face. Then it slowly dived out of sight. But it would return to the surface, and we would climb aboard again."

 

[RoyN]

I think the most important thing is to treasure the moment. May not happen again. If he doesn't want us to follow him, just wave bye and hope he has a safe trip.

 

[archman]

Geez people, don't you think the 1500-2000lb whale shark would just swim down or away, if it felt threatened by a few snorklers?

"Threatened" and "harassed" are not often the same thing. The former implies a danger to the animal, while the latter may/may not. What harassment does imply is cessation of normal behaviour, which can *indirectly* lead to a danger to the animal. Examples of such would be reduced feeding or reproductive effort, alteration/restriction of the animal's natural movements, and learned responses to human activity.

Which is why several marine species (eg sea turtles, cetaceans) are legally protected from "harassment" activities, in addition to being regulated from fishing.

The bulk of marine conservation scientists support greater protections of whale sharks from human harassment activities. The model most people look at is the one currently in effect for parts of Belize, which ironically borrows heavily from portions of the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.
http://www.friendsofnaturebelize.org/WhaleSharks.htm

 

[Tigerman]

How common/uncommon is it to see whalesharks btw? Id love meeting one, but over here there is none to meet, so Id have to travel for that to happen..
The sharks here also dwell at 300+ meters or something, so I dont think Ill meet one of those either. Besides, theire ugly

 

[pakman]

Can anyone make out what is in the upper left corner of this particular pic?

http://www.southernoffshoreadventures.com/images/070107%20Whale%20Shark%20107.jpg

LOL... Does that snorkeler in the middle have a knife strapped to his leg???

 

[Mgarcia26]

seriously, the only reason he should have a knife is to cutt away anything that might entagle him. Apparently, MacGyver here was going to get into a fight with scuba diving spies or a killer whale shark...

also, what diving agency would allow this?? i can't belive no one said anything

 

[alcina]

also, what diving agency would allow this??

Again, the agencies don't really have anything to do with snorkellers or divers beyond courses. Agencies are training agencies - not real life water police.

 

[Mgarcia26]

yeah but the people who are in agencies have been diving for many years and usually hold some respect for the ocean. At least for me its a little unusual that they didn't at least say something.

 

[alcina]

I guess we don't really know what was said or who was there. And as these guys are snorkeling, perhaps none of them have even done a course or been introduced to the value in simple respect. And if they have, perhaps they are like so many others who consider it their right to do pretty much as they please.

They all look old enough to know better without someone having to tell them, to me