Whale Sharks Listed as Endangered in July 2016
Whale Sharks are known as being gentle giants of the sea. Despite their name they are not actually sharks, but rather the worlds largest fish! These fish can grow up to 40 feet in length, which is about the size of a large school bus and can weigh up to 11 tons. They have unique spot like patterns on their skin that are completely different for each shark. These patterns act as their own unique fingerprint and no two sharks have the same pattern. These giant creatures filter feed with their 5 foot wide mouths, catching large volumes of plankton at a time (World Wildlife Fund). The IUCN Red List first listed them as vulnerable back in 2000 due to Asian markets harvesting them for food and getting caught as by-catch. Due to their slow swimming speeds they are also at risk for getting injured from collisions with boats. As of July of 2016 Whale Sharks were officially listed as Endangered by the IUCN. Another major problem is the human attitude towards these gentle giants. If you search whale sharks online, thousands of pictures come up with tourists swimming alongside them, touching them, and even clinging on to their fins to catch a ride. The human attitude towards these creatures needs to be corrected. The organisms that live in our oceans are not there for human enjoyment and tourist boats that go out with this purpose should be banned from the industry. We need to be sending the right message to people who are uneducated about the oceans that the organisms that live there deserve to be treated properly and not harmed or harassed. Although not physically injuring to these whale sharks, it can be extremely stressful and traumatizing when humans are too close to them, let alone touching them (IUCN Red List). In places such as Isla Mujeres, Mexico the boat operators say that they inform the tourists of the rules that should be followed for interacting with the whale sharks however there will always be people who do not listen. The boat operators said that they feel these trips out to swim with whale sharks is actually helping promote shark conservation and therefore the positives far outweigh the negatives (National Geographic). Another direct threat to whale sharks is ocean pollution. Many oil spills have occurred in areas that are hot spots for whale sharks, such as the Gulf of Mexico. Spills and other forms of pollution can kill whale sharks and also displace them from their current habitats when can affect entire ecosystems. Organizations such as WildEarth Guardians have recently (2012) put out a petition to list the whale shark under the endangered species act so that it will receive increased protection to prevent the population from collapsing. The petition was submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, NOAA and the National Marine Fisheries Service back in December of 2012. No progress has been made with them being listed under the endangered species act to date however due to environmental policy gridlock it may just take awhile. For now we each must do our part to make sure we are not harming the environment around us. Recycle, don't pollute on beaches, roadways or dump anything down storm drains, compost unused vegetables and eggs, carpool, bike or walk when possible, write to your local congressman to let them know what you are passionate about and tell your friends and family ways that they also can help to save the animals that we share this Earth with.
References
http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/whale-shark
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/19488/0
http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/pr/species/petitions/whale_shark_petition_2012.pdf
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/whale-sharks-endangered-species-conservation/
