Whale Shark Rides !

[DevonDiver]

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New Amended Ordinance without proper Public Hearing, cause that is how it is done in the Philippines.

Don... what do you mean by "without proper hearing"? (genuine question).

As an aside, it always makes me shudder when I see "local pricing" differences.... that practice is very damaging to tourism and the image of the Philippines.

 

[DonCebu]

Don... what do you mean by "without proper hearing"? (genuine question).

As an aside, it always makes me shudder when I see "local pricing" differences.... that practice is very damaging to tourism and the image of the Philippines.

Adoption or amendment of village laws and town ordinances, rules, and regulations require a public hearing.


The argument of "local pricing" differences would be a great subject for another thread. I agree with them for the most part.

 

[gee13]

Ive always been vehemently opposed to unnatural feeding by fishermen to attract whalesharks for tourists. This started in Cendrawasih Bay in Indonesia a few years ago - someone has picked this up in Cebu and put their spin on feeding. Despite prominent scientists and conservation groups claiming this protects them for being finned as fishermen now focus on feeding for the same cash - now a new form of human environmental terrorism is born.

Let these beautiful creatures be what they evolved to be - filter feeders in the wild - not some kind of domesticated pet on show like circus animals.

Utterly Apalling, but not too far from being unexpected..unfortunately.

 

[Quero]

Ive always been vehemently opposed to unnatural feeding by fishermen to attract whalesharks for tourists.

We had a thread recently about this, here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/philippine-paradise-divers/410007-feeding-whale-sharks.html. Dutchpickle started that thread after a not-so-nice thread elsewhere that featured one member who was very much in favor of the practice.

 

[gee13]

Thanks Quero, I must have missed this one. Glad to know you share the same sentiment on the topic. Such practices cannot end well.

What is disconcerting is that this undermines the good conservations efforts that are working and happening in other parts of the Philippines.

 

[crrodil]

This just breaks my heart - anyone know who we can write to express concern? WWF? Wrote the Department of Tourism in February, but apparently little has been done given the dates of these photos. Appreciate change takes time - but at what cost is that to come? At the expense of the domestication, or worse death, of these endangered animals? It's unsustainable tourism at its worst and I can't believe the local agencies haven't educated the locals on proper interaction yet given tourism is important to the local livelihood.

As a Filipina-American DM who responsibly interacted with whalesharks previously am disappointed to see this. It really gives the Philippines a bad reputation and there are so many beautiful things about the Philippines / its people.

 

[chrisgp007]

makes me really sad to see this happening it there , just so that these ppl can bring in more tourism and income for themselves , it will actually be their downfall hope some one there in thier goverment is doin something about this abuse to the marine life