A Gathering of Giants

Contributed by Dr Bob

A strange occurrence began to take place in the waters surrounding the Seychelles during the beginning of October... A living soup of plankton was slowly drawn into the relatively shallow waters of the inner islands by strong tidal flows and surface currents. The plankton was invigorated by the sunshine and became so concentrated it formed a layer over a meter deep below the surface. A soup regarded as a delicacy by the worlds largest known fish. Individually, and in small groups they began to arrive...

"WHALE SHARKS!"

The days leading up to the middle of October had become increasingly exciting with sightings of these remarkable travellers on almost every dive, both in Praslin and later in Mahe. During several special 'spotting' trips we were to encounter various individuals and small groups ranging from 6m juveniles to 10m adult specimens, but at that point no one could have envisaged what this could have been leading to.

During one such excursion on the 14th October Chris Deutschmann, Katrina Ang and I slipped out of the 'Island Ventures' mooring near Port Glaud on the northwest of Mahe and headed north. Reaching the bay of Launay we noticed a big disturbance on the surface of the sea. Approaching on tick-over we could see thousands of small fish in a feeding-frenzy over a particularly dense area of plankton, behind these were five adult whaleshark, mouths agape; reaping the plankton.

First Contact

It was agreed that our interaction with these sharks fell well short of disturbance to their obvious feeding patterns the boat dropping us gently and quietly off to the side of their path. Hanging with our heads below the water it was apparent just how thick the plankton was; causing a red/brown haze that reduced the visibility to a maximum of 5-10m. An absence of teeth was reassuring, but a deep underlying respect for many tonnes of beast kept me sober as I waited those few long seconds.

Then an amazing feeling flowed through me as a huge streamlined spotty shape appeared out of the gloom in front of my exposed position... frozen in awe!

It doesn't matter how many times I've seen these wonderful creatures, I always feel the same; a moment of reverence, eyes wide trying to absorb that moment, and then pinching myself. Then the other side of my brain kicks-in reminding me to take a photograph, although in those conditions images collected are never going to win prizes, but are a record none the less.

Apart from a momentary inquisitiveness; (a flick of the eye), the sharks paid very little notice to the three observers dangling off to their side, which was fine, after all they are not dolphins. Lumbering lumps of lard they are not either; one purposeful flick of the tailfin results in acceleration to rival a speedboat making it pointless to swim after them. After several such passes the light dropped and we headed back happy with our short encounter.

Monday

After a disappointing day before we were not too optimistic... the sky was turning grey with periodic downpours of rain and a reasonable swell was coming onshore. During an hour of wandering between the western islands and the marine park in the Bay of Tarnay we thought we were to be unlucky again, but 'Randolph' the skipper spotted something off to our flank, a juvenile of around 7m swam just below the surface. However, he gave us only minute of his time before slipping off towards the north of Conception Island.

Surprise

Meanwhile the sky had begun to cloud over quite thickly and rain was falling once more, made worse by a stiff wind. We decided to head back towards the bay while skimming the east of Conception Island, but nothing and disappointment dripped from us like the warm water from our wetsuit boots.

We then decided to check out the leeward side of Therese Island enroute, quite difficult to see much with the lowering sun periodically lighting the tops of the swell. It proved a good decision as Chris spotted the heated surface activity we were looking for.
Just 50m off the north of Therese 4 or 5 fin sets broke the surface of the water with a blue cloud in front made up of a few thousand fish joining the frenzy. We immediately noticed a difference from previous sightings; these sharks were all large adults but remained ambiguous as we prepared to jump along their direction of travel.
Oh my God!

In we went, as the bubbles cleared I really wasn't seeing what I expected... instead of the five adults feeding near the surface I was looking down on six distinctive pairs of sharks below them, ascending almost vertically from the deep... a thousand feelings ran though me all at once, no time to think about photography as over a hundred and fifty tonnes of whaleshark converged on that one tiny spot of the ocean that I was dangling in, it felt like every part of my body wanted to be elsewhere....

If you imagine scenes from 'Star Wars' when all of those Empire Cruisers were all converging on the rebel ships, that's exactly what was going through my mind. Every which way I turned they were coming this way and that - this was scary. Amazingly and noticeably each one looked to avoid me and slipped away, what was fascinating too they all appeared in communication with each other ("Watch out for that plonker above you"). Kat, Chris & I numbly glanced across at each other and climbed out of the water.

Randolph was jumping up and down on the boat as he had seen what was going on from the surface. None of us had ever seen so many Whalesharks in one small space... "Why were they acting like they were, in pairs ascending from the 40m bottom?" A question that ran through all of us simultaneously.

That's how it's done!

On the next drop I was to see why as I noticed two more sharks ascending almost vertically coupled together then breaking off near the surface, turning again I saw two more. Although it didn't seem plausible at the time I was perhaps watching Whalesharks mating! As I glanced around again a large (13-14m) female was heading my way, but this time straight at me! Before I had chance to do anything she was there, raising her head she lifted me (In full scuba) out of the water and it was all I could do to control myself putting my right hand flat onto her head. This was the first time I had touched a whaleshark and I wasn't ready for what I felt... warmth, and not a rough texture but that of semidry concrete. I tipped off to my right-hand side as two more sharks joined her flank. I braced as I expected her 2.5m tailfin to strike but thankfully she pulled the stroke short of hitting me. I noticed too she had around 20cm of her tailfin missing at the top... instantly recognisable.

Back onboard Randolph who had seen everything from the boat laughed and said "The big Momma wanted you away" Well that's exactly what it appeared to be; the actions of a matriarch! These actions were confirmed moments later when she tried the same routine with Chris but he avoided the confrontation by inches. On two more occasions she came along side the boat preventing it drifting into the group. It was a few minutes before I got settled and back in the water and by this time the light was getting worse, but I was still able to see one more couple ascend from the depths together directly behind the boat. I was however cautiously looking around for she who should be obeyed.

As the sun disappeared behind Conception Island we headed back to shore elated by the encounter physically moved and blissfully unaware of the fact that the event we had just witnessed may be a worlds first.

Ritual Interpretation

Analysing the event we came to the fair conclusion that this large group of Whalesharks had congregated for a reason. The culmination of a large mixed reunion amidst a rich harvest of food had further triggered an urge to mate. The ritual was such that the pairs fed together then dived to depth before joining for the nuptials. Not that different to humans when you think about it! (We were aware of whalesharks feeding vertically, but this is only around bait balls and not plankton). This makes perfect sense really as I couldn't imagine the bulk of Whalesharks wriggling on their backs in the sand to do the business like nurse sharks or whitetip's do.

What was noticeable was the absence from the ritual of the many juvenile Whalesharks we had seen on previous days and only ten minutes before this encounter... selected adults only. Which may verify that these creatures have an inherently structured social code that they adhere to, similar to that I have observed in other species of shark.

The whole event was a huge social gathering of giants that had travelled for years and thousands of miles to be in this one place at that one time, and as destiny, good fortune or even coincidence would have it so were Randolph, Chris, Kat and I to witness it!

The future of Whaleshark (Arguably)

Several organisations around the world have been tagging Whalesharks in the past to try and solve the riddle of where they disappear and appear again. This took place in the Seychelles too in previous years when a number of sharks received tags, but none of the individuals we saw had any indication or scars left by tags.

Why do we really need to know, will it cure cancer, stop people waging war or help the oppressed... NO! 99% of the fascination of these creatures and the mysticism surrounding them is that they are so illusive and that is what makes them so special to see. Can't we just be happy that they frequent certain areas on a irregular basis and just let them live their lives until they are ready to share it with us? The Seychelles becomes a portal into another world, when the time is right this portal opens to allow us a brief but inspiring peak inside.

The bigger picture

The whaleshark is under constant threat especially it seems in Asian waters where they are literally dragging hundreds of them from the water every year. Why? Unlike predatory shark meat whaleshark meat is edible and much sought after in Asian markets. Taiwanese concerns are amongst the biggest culprits in their obsession with this meat. Fishing fleets are now using fulltime spotter aircraft to direct fishing boats towards the sharks in open-ocean. The Taiwanese reputation for merciless and unscrupulous fishing practices is infamous. In Sulawesi not so long ago they were responsible for the mass-murder of hundreds of whaleshark, dolphin, dugong and turtles to name just a few when miles of monofilament nets were spread across the Lembeh Straits. This outraged the world but they were allowed to get away lightly, and now sub contractors using military hardware continue the slaughter on their behalf.

At a recent CITES gathering the whaleshark failed to be entered on the list of endangered species for what appears to be a silly reason. Due to the numbers of whaleshark not being accurately known they couldn't be considered as endangered! I imagine that the fishing concerns were laughing all the way to the bank!

It's well known among scientists and observers that numbers being landed outnumber sightings at sea. Numbers at known gathering points are decreasing annually, and sometimes they do not even appear at all. Would it have not been more sensible to restrict the amount of landings until these numbers were more apparent? Or do they have a problem with big numbers?

Put simply the Whaleshark should be classed as a 'World Heritage Species'; after all it is the only one of a kind and was hundreds of millions of years in the making, a truly global traveller. The continued loss of these creatures at this rate may see them extinct unless we can act and do something positive about stopping them. As individuals it would be very difficult to achieve this goal, we need to add to the ripples already generated by organisations such as the Shark Trust.

By signing petitions we can create waves of increasing pressure on these dubious governments. However in countries with very little respect for any form of sentient life it is not going to be an easy task to achieve. It brings the hardest of us to tears, seemingly wasted... but eventually may cause a flood enough to cleanse even the most disgusting of consciences.