Spatial and temporal patterns of nature-based tourism interactions with whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia

Abstract

a b s t r a c tAs with other nature-based tourism ventures, whale shark tourism is expanding rapidly worldwide, which highlights the need to understand more about the nature of these activities. Records of interactions between tour operators and whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia (22. (2009 and 2010) were used to plot the smoothed densities of tour operator interactions with whale sharks. Generalised linear models were used to investigate how the presence/absence and number of whale shark interactions at North and South Ningaloo were influenced by the distance to the reef crest, the distance to passages and their interaction terms for the aggregated five-year data set. Over the five years, distance to the reef crest was the best predictor of the presence/absence of whale shark interactions at both North (interactions concentrated within 3 km of the reef crest) and South Ningaloo (interactions within 6 km of the reef crest) followed by distance to passages. The reef passages are very significant areas for tourism interactions with whale sharks at Ningaloo. The distribution of interactions at North and South Ningaloo varied from year to year, particularly in the strong La Niña year of 2010, when average sea surface temperatures remained above 24 C and whale sharks were observed much later in the year than previously (late August). This study demonstrates the value of the data collected by the tour operators at Ningaloo Reef and managed by a government agency for the conservation and sustainable whale shark tourism.

El Niño Southern Oscillation influences the abundance and movements of a marine top predator in coastal waters

“…The correlation between ENSO and the LC strength affects species biology and ecology within WA waters. For example, La Niña events have positive impacts on growth rates of fish (Nguyen et al., ; Ong et al., ) and corals (Ong et al., ) and altered the distribution patterns of aggregating whale sharks ( Rhincodon typus ; Anderson et al., ; Wilson, Taylor, & Pearce, ). During the strong La Niña event in summer 2011, there was an extreme warming of SST with anomalies of 2–4 ° C persisting for several months (Pearce & Feng, ), during which ecosystems and marine species were affected (Feng, McPhaden, Xie, & Hafner, ; Smale & Wernberg, ; Wernberg et al., ).…”

Movement, distribution and marine reserve use by an endangered migratory giant

“…This study, the most extensive satellite telemetry study on R. typus conducted in Australia, has shown that sharks generally made relatively short forays away from Ningaloo Reef before returning to the area intra‐annually (Figure ). Previous studies have suggested that sharks exhibit high individual fidelity to the Ningaloo Reef area during the austral autumn/winter, with individuals often resighted in the area over consecutive years (Anderson et al., ; Holmberg, Norman, & Arzoumanian, ; Holmberg et al., ; Norman & Morgan, ; Norman et al., ). While these observations documented the usage by R. typus of areas accessed by tourism operators during the whale shark season, the movements and whereabouts of sharks between these resighting events remained unclear.…”

“…The whale shark ecotourism industry at Ningaloo Reef operates during the “whale shark season,” that is, the period during which whale sharks are known to aggregate at Ningaloo Reef. This is during the austral autumn and winter, generally between March and July (Anderson et al., ; Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, ; Holmberg, Norman, & Arzoumanian, ), sometimes extending into August and September (Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, ).…”

“…In the Indian Ocean, R. typus aggregate in some coastal areas, including Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia (WA) during the austral autumn/winter (Anderson et al., ; Colman, ; Norman, Reynolds, & Morgan, ; Norman & Stevens, ; Wilson, Taylor, & Pearce, ). This aggregation supports a lucrative tourism industry (Catlin, Jones, Norman, & Wood, ), and most sighting records come from the northern area of Ningaloo Reef in which the industry operates (Anderson et al., ; Norman et al., ).…”

“…In the Indian Ocean, R. typus aggregate in some coastal areas, including Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia (WA) during the austral autumn/winter (Anderson et al., ; Colman, ; Norman, Reynolds, & Morgan, ; Norman & Stevens, ; Wilson, Taylor, & Pearce, ). This aggregation supports a lucrative tourism industry (Catlin, Jones, Norman, & Wood, ), and most sighting records come from the northern area of Ningaloo Reef in which the industry operates (Anderson et al., ; Norman et al., ). Although R. typus exhibit long‐distance movements away from this region (Norman et al., ; Sleeman, Meekan, Wilson, et al., ; Wilson, Polovina, Stewart, & Meekan, ), and genetic studies suggest that some degree of broadscale mixing of Indo‐Pacific populations is occurring (Vignaud et al., ), movements outside this recognized aggregation period are relatively unknown (Norman et al., ).…”