“ON WHALE SHARK INTERACTION”
(Erico Joseph T. Cañete)
The recent ban of whale shark provisioning and interactions imposed by Gov. Erico Aristotle Aumentado in the towns of Lila, Alburquerque and Dauis, is a manifestation of a political will to protect these creatures. Executive Order (EO) No. 10 that he (Gov. Erico Aristotle Aumentado) signed on February 3, 2025 ordered the indefinite stoppage of all whale shark interaction activities in the said towns.
With conviction, I support this move.
Years back, in my research about whale shark interaction reflected in my Bohol Tribune column, the following observations were mentioned;
“Whale sharks are migratory species and normally follow the path of nutrient-rich seasonal aggregations of plankton including copepods, krill, fish eggs and crab larvae. They also eat small fish and squid. They rarely reside in one area more than 30 days, a characteristic of a sea gypsy.
Now, if you bring these whale sharks outside of their migratory route like bringing them to the shore area baited and fed them with dead krill everyday to make them stay in the feeding area, this would affect their diet for instead of eating nutritious blooms of planktons, they would be eating less natural food that is not complete for their nutritional needs. Eventually, this would affect their lifestyle.
Feeding these creatures is teaching them that boats and humans mean food. This behavioral modification might also have inherent effect as they travel outside of protected waters and wrongly approach fishing boats and would consequently hit by propellers.
Consider too the issue of sanitation of our seawaters or shoreline due to unconsumed dead krill that would pollute the area. It brings adverse effects to other marine resources.”
Taking seriously this rationale, the Sangguniang Bayan of Baclayon, Bohol, back in 2020 passed and approved a municipal ordinance, authored by this representation, Ordinance No. 01 -2020, “AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING REGULATIONS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF WHALE SHARKS WITHIN THE MUNICIPAL WATERS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF BACLAYON.”
Article 3 Section 4.4 of the ordinance provides, “provisioning or the use of any methods designed to attract marine wildlife including whale sharks, using food (artificial or natural), including, but not limited to, luring, baiting, chumming and feeding,” is a prohibited act.
The LGU of Baclayon favors interaction but not provisioning. It was our way of protecting these gentle giants and consequently, protecting our environment.
Now, how about the marginal fishermen who resorted to this lucrative business and whose livelihood is dislodged by this EO? Well, the government has the responsibility to provide them with education on how to interact with the whale sharks, enact municipal ordinances to regulate the activity, favor local business entrepreneurs over foreign investors to handle this tourism activity, provide livelihood program to affected individuals to compensate with the lost bounty of the ban.
Many of us are for tourism and economic development as long as it does not exploit our eco cultural treasures and heritage. We must conscientiously weigh things in making a decision in line with Bohol’s vision as a prime eco-cultural tourist destination and an agro-industrial province in the Visayas.
Above all, we have to align our tourism activities in consonance with the principles of conservation and upkeep of Bohol being the Philippines’ first UNESCO Global Geopark.