Assessing the impacts of tourism on the world's largest fish Rhincodon typus at Panaon Island, Southern Leyte, Philippines

Abstract

1. Shark-based tourism is a rapidly growing industry, particularly with whale sharks, as new hotspots are identified worldwide. Understanding any impacts of tourism is essential to minimize any potential detrimental effects on the target species and habitat.2. In-water behavioural observations of whale sharks were used to understand any impacts of tourism at a small site in Panaon Island, Southern Leyte, Philippines. A generalized linear mixed model was fitted to test anthropogenic and environmental variables, with interaction duration as the response variable, to assess any disturbance to the animals by the tourism activities.3. Whale sharks were observed between the months of November and June between 2013 and 2016, with highly variable seasons. In total, 527 tourist-whale shark interactions were recorded during 359 trips identifying 104 individual whale sharks, most of which were juvenile males (85%, measuring c. 5.5 m total length). Proximity of motorized vessels and interactions in deeper waters were found to significantly shorten interactions. Short-term behavioural changes were observed in response to human events (e.g. touching). Interactions when whale sharks were feeding were significantly longer than when they were not. Individual behavioural variability was observed.4. Impacts could be mitigated with small managerial changes and increased enforcement, such as limiting the number of motorized vessels and the number of people around the whale sharks.Although no long-term impacts were recorded during this study, it is difficult to ascertain this in a long-lived, wide-ranging species.5. This knowledge gap highlights the need to build long-term monitoring programmes, and to apply the precautionary principle for the sustainable use of this endangered species. KEYWORDS behavioural observations, ethogram, mixed effects models, Philippines, tourism management, whale shark

Occurrence of the rare and Endangered Ornate Eagle Ray, Aetomylaeus vespertilio (Bleeker, 1852) (Chondrichthyes, Myliobatidae), at a remote marine protected area in the Philippines

“…Interestingly, the ray defecated before speeding up and diving, a response by animals to divers or snorkelers that has been previously reported in other elasmobranch species (e.g. Whale Sharks; Araujo et al 2017); this warrants attention when developing sustainable tourism practices (e.g. Lawrence et al 2016).…”

Long-Term Photo-Identification Reveals the Population Dynamics and Strong Site Fidelity of Adult Whale Sharks to the Coastal Waters of Donsol, Philippines

“…Although tourism now brings over U$S 1.5 M in revenue per season to the area (Local Government Unit, Donsol), it is important to strictly regulate interactions with whale sharks at Donsol, given the importance of the area to the species and their endangered status (Pierce and Norman, 2016). Sustainable practices are recommended when engaging tourism with an endangered species, ensuring the durability of the industry for the local communities that benefit from it, and minimizing disturbance in an important habitat (Quiros, 2007;Araujo et al, 2017).…”

“…The largest of the shark species, whale sharks are highly mobile (e.g., Wilson et al, 2006;Sleeman et al, 2010;Berumen et al, 2014;Robinson et al, 2017), but form predictable seasonal aggregations in hotspots around the world, predominantly associated with the presence of food (e.g., Motta et al, 2010;Robinson et al, 2013;Rohner et al, 2015a). Some whale sharks display a degree of site fidelity on an annual and inter-annual basis (Graham and Roberts, 2007;Holmberg et al, 2008;Fox et al, 2013;Araujo et al, 2017), and this predictability makes the whale shark an ideal target species for wildlife tourism (Catlin and Jones, 2010;Rowat and Brooks, 2012).…”

Peer Review #1 of "Satellite tracking of juvenile whale sharks in the Sulu and Bohol Seas, Philippines (v0.1)"

“…1, 2, 3): (a: "Panaon Island") Panaon Island has had ongoing whale shark tourism since 2006, and dedicated research since 2013 (Araujo et al, 2016a). The whale shark 'season' is highly variable, with sightings reported anytime between October and June (Araujo et al, 2017). where ~100 individuals were landed per year in the 1990's (Alava et al, 2002), and where Eckert et al (2002) tagged two whale sharks in 1997.…”

“…Manuscript to be reviewed (Araujo et al, 2017). Over 250 individuals have been identified at this site, typically associated with localised zooplankton blooms that occur between October and June (Wildbook for Whale Sharks, May 2018).…”