The whale shark

I wish I was there to see it!

News of beached whale shark rouses Dumaguete


Posted 04:48am (Mla time) Jan 29, 2005
By Alex V. Pal
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A17 of the January 29, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


DUMAGUETE CITY-"Finally, I had a chance to touch a shark!" yelled student Joseph Solitario to a friend, after touching a beached whale shark that he mistook for a shark off the shores of Dumaguete City.

The sight of the enormous fish lying dead off the shore of Barangay Piapi greeted Dumagueteños who were up as early as 4 a.m.

The 9.3-meter female whale shark, estimated to weigh over 9 tons, was believed to have been dead for several days before it drifted into shallow waters yesterday, as it was already starting to emit a foul odor.

News of its discovery spread through the morning radio newscasts which sent thousands of people wading in the knee-deep water, just to catch a glimpse of this unusual sea creature.

"My, it's really big," gushed Emmanuel Tiongson, who rushed to the scene after hearing the news. "It's like a submarine!"

SPO4 Enriquieto Zendon, assistant station chief of the Dumaguete-based 702nd Maritime Police Station, said that in his 18 years in the Navy and 13 years with the maritime police, it was his first time to see a sea creature that big. He said he was not surprised that thousands of Dumagueteños turned out to see the whale shark. "We expected a huge crowd because many are amazed at this creature."

Lawton Alcala, a biologist of the Negros Oriental Environment and Natural Resources Division, said they still do not know what caused the whale shark's death.

Search for clues

"It would be interesting to see the whale shark's back because we might be able to get clues as to whether it was wounded or something," he said, but that was still not possible because the water was too shallow. The whale shark was lying on its back.

As of noon yesterday, authorities were still deciding what to do with the shark, although the Silliman University Marine Laboratory had expressed its intention to collect its bones for study.

Moonyeen Alava, deputy executive director of the Cebu-based Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation Inc., who is also the Philippine member of the shark specialist group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said whale sharks are migratory and have been known to pass through Philippine waters, especially in the Bohol Sea and in Sorsogon, which are plankton-rich feeding areas.

Whale sharks, considered to be the biggest fish in the world, could reach a length of 18 meters, weigh up to 15 tons and live for over 100 years.

It has a huge mouth that can be as long as 4 feet wide.

The whale shark has distinctive light yellow markings (random stripes and dots) on its very thick, dark gray skin. Its skin can be up to 4 inches thick.

Poaching

"It's very rare that a whale shark, or any shark for that matter, will beach itself. It's possible that there might have been poaching activities in the area," Alava said.

She said sharks and other cartilaginous fishes are the longest-living creatures in the world, whose form and function has withstood evolution for millions of years.

Alava said that the presence of whale sharks is a strong indicator of the health of our seas. "When they are around, it means our oceans and waters are in good health."

Whale sharks have been traditionally hunted in the Philippines but have been nationally protected by Fisheries Administrative Order No. 193 passed in March 1998.

Efforts to protect the whale shark have also received a boost with the passage of Republic Act 8550, or the New Fisheries Code, also in 1998, which prohibits the international trade of whale sharks and other species listed in the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) list.

Vulnerable

The IUCN Red List includes the whale shark as a vulnerable species, but Alava said that Philippine data on the exploitation rate of the whale shark suggests that it would qualify as a critically endangered species in the Philippines.

In 2002, whale sharks were listed in the CITES of Flora and Fauna. CITES is an international agreement between governments that aim to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

The CITES web site reported that not one species protected by CITES has become extinct as a result of trade since the convention was enforced in 1975. CITES is also among the largest conservation agreements in existence with 167 participating countries.

PDI Visayas Bureau

Bye, Bye Dumaguete

I'll miss Dumaguete. I already am missing it. I've been here in Cebu for a few weeks now. A couple of times I went with P to the Negros city, and also in Siquijor and Tagbilaran in Bohol.

So, in total, I've been to Suquijor twice (in Siquijor town itself and in Larena), Bohol thrice (in Tagbilaran, Tubigon, and the towns in between), and Oriental Negros many times (Bayawan to Dumaguete to Mabinay to La Libertad, and the towns and cities between them). Not bad. I've been to so many places during the course of six months.

I'll be missing all these places because P's resignation from her company will be effective on the 17th of this month. Which means we will be working in Cebu na. Which means this weblog would no longer serve its intended purpose, which was to document a "new life" or a "new beginning" in a "new city" that was Dumaguete City.

I hope to do more serious blogging in the future (This was never a serious blog), possibly about the experiences in running a book club or a reading and discussion group.

I'll be visiting Dumaguete for the last time (Well, not exactly. We'll still be going there occasionally on special holidays to visit relatives in Bayawan, Basay and Sanke.) next week.

Lady of Fatima

The Pilgrim Lady of Fatima from the Heralds of the Gospel is staying in our house today. She arrived last night. Didn't get any sleep as we were keeping a vigil for Her.

We in our family, we are so honored to have the Blessed Lady of Fatima at our home. She will be staying with us until 4 or 5 in the afternoon, after which She will be in another household in Talisay.

Actually, the Lady of Fatima statue the Heralds of the Gospel have is a copy of the original image that Sister Lucia had made (read: she *had it made*, as in, from a sculptor) for the Blessed Virgin Mary that appeared to her and two other shepherd children, Jacinta (who, if I'm not mistaken, was her sister) and Franciso (or Francesco?) in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Two of the children, Jacinta and Francisco, died shorty after the apparition, while Lucia is still alive. She's already 97 years old and is a cloistered nun.

For more about the Fatima apparition and the Lady of Fatima, go to www.fatima.org.