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Images provided by Ocean Messengers NGO

We received these images of an event that took place in the Port Elizabeth harbour on the 4 February. We will hopefully have more information on these images in the next day or two.

On Saturday morning (2 Jan) about 7km north of Cape Vidal in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park two whale sharks, one 5m and the other 6.5m, were found having beached themselves. One had no signs of any injuries but the second had a lump on its head and an old wound on its caudal fin.

This has been seen as a natural occurrence according to iSimangaliso park CEO Andrew Zaloumis, he stated that along the park shores 10 whale sharks a year are found beached.

“While there is much speculation as to why whale sharks beach themselves, the actual reason is not known,” he said.
Even though Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife marine staff and holidaymakers tried to move the whales back into the water they sadly couldn’t and both the whale sharks died.

Last week a whale shark measuring 6.5m also beached itself just north of Leven Point in iSimangaliso.

Zaloumis said the beached animals were measured, photographs were taken and the dorsal fins were removed and sent to the KZN Sharks Board for its monitoring and research programmes.

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It took rescue services more than six hours and the help of dozens of volunteers to rescue a young whale shark that beached at Durban Harbour on Thursday 4 December.

The whale shark, which measured 6m, was eventually herded out with the tide late yesterday afternoon.

Describing the long, arduous but successful rescue operation, National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesman Craig Lambinon said rescuers had been elated when they realised the operation was going to end in success.

Working hand in hand, NSRI swimmers, SA police Search and Rescue services, SA Navy Divers, uShaka aquarium staff and Ezemvelo Wildlife officials finally managed to strap the whale shark to the NSRI Megan 3 rescue craft and it was escorted out by the navy harbour patrol vessel and was released one nautical mile off shore “It is unknown why it beached as it appeared to be healthy, but we are very happy that we managed to rescue it,” Lambinon said.

The whale shark was first spotted yesterday morning by people working around the harbour near the Point Yacht Club.

It was not long after that paramedics and the public and rescue officials gathered around the whale shark, which was constantly splashing water in an attempt to swim away.

A paramedic who was among those who had walked across to the whale shark said people were frantically trying to get the fish into a sling so that they could pull it out of the harbour, but all to no avail because it was very heavy.

A fisherman who was also trying to assist said he was amazed at how big it was.

“You would think a big group like this would be able to lift it up in one go, but never. I really hope that they can save it,” he said as he made his way out of the water.

Pupils who were on the Jolly Roger at harbour also got a glimpse of the whale shark, but before they could get close enough, the boat was sent away by naval officials who were concerned about further traumatising the animal.

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We were lucky to meet Matt Potenski who came from Mafia Island to visit us during the expedition. He has sent the following report and pictures showing the work he has done in Mafia. Rachel our scientist from the WCS gave him some receivers and tags to put out so that we can all work together. It is a very exciting start for Mafia as you will read below!! Many thanks for the info Matt - at least we now know where all the sharks are!!!

EAWST Blog – Cooperation with Tanzania

To all the EAWST friends, greetings from Tanzania. My name is Matthew D Potenski, and I run a research program on whale sharks in Mafia Island, Tanzania. Over the last few years, some data has been collected to suggest that whale sharks may use areas of both Kenya and Tanzania. This year I had the pleasure to come up to Kenya to meet with members of the EAWST and head out into the field with Dr. Rachel Graham. Upon discussion with both Dr. Graham and the EAWST, we were able to look at some data and agree to collaborate on projects in the future. In that vein, I have just completed my season of field research at Mafia, and have a number of interesting things to report.

Last year I made observations of a tagged shark off Mafia Island. This is not remarkable as I tag the sharks there, but this shark had a tag that was not like the ones I put out. After some effort, I was able to remove enough algae from the tag to decipher a number. The tag read K001, and I rightly guessed that the tag’s origin was in Kenya. I contacted members of the EAWST and they confirmed that it was a tag they put out. In the past few months, I have re-sighted this shark numerous times. At the last count, I have encountered this shark six times over a span of three weeks. All the sightings have been made in the waters immediately to the west of Mafia Island. Shark K001 was seen on January 27th and 29th, and February 1st, 2nd, 9th, and 23rd. The identification of this shark was confirmed by spot-pattern analysis. Please see below for a spot ID picture taken of shark K001 on January 27th.

I am also happy to report that in cooperation with the EAWST and Dr. Graham, I have been able to deploy automated telemetry equipment at Mafia Island.

This means that Tanzania has joined with Madagascar, Mozambique, and Kenya in forming acoustic arrays for whale shark detection. On March 20th-22nd I managed to deploy the eight transmitters I received from Dr. Graham. Seven male sharks ranging from 3-6.5 meters and one 5m female were fitted with a Vemco V16 acoustic transmitter.

On the 23rd, a small team helped me deploy two Vemco VR2W acoustic receivers. This involved diving on scuba and pounding iron bars into the sand. We then attached the units both to the bars and to 150 kg cement blocks as a preventative measure. There is some net fishing in the area where these receivers are located and the cement block should be heavy enough to keep the units from being pulled up in a net.

The important point is that the deployment of this equipment is completely reciprocal with transmitters and receivers deployed by the EAWST. This automated telemetry equipment may give further insights into the actual amount of migration by whale sharks between Kenya and Tanzania. Sharks tagged with transmitters in one location can be detected by receivers in another location. The actual residence time or amount of time a whale shark spends in a location with each receiver will be measured. This means that data on both local movements and migrations between receiver arrays can be collected. The receivers will spend several months in the water before they are retrieved and their data downloaded. I know I am very excited to see what data we will be able to get with this technology, and I look forward to comparing data with the EAWST so that we can get a more accurate picture of the behavioral patterns of whale sharks in East Africa.

Special thanks to Volker, Nimu, and all the volunteers at the EAWST and to Dr. Rachel Graham of the Wildlife Conservation Society for their friendship and support. I look forward to more whale sharks in both Kenya and Tanzania in 2010.

Another cracking day with 3 sightings and 1 tagged.

I have wonderful sponsors lined up for our 3rd tag and 4th tag, after which it’s anybodys game so please help us by sponsoring a shark! Professor Dan Reinstein and the London Vision Clinic have sponsored the next tag. Thank you so much Professor Dan! And Camp Kenya and Camps International have sponsored the 4th acoustic tag we put out.

Thank you so much Camps!