Shutter Shark 2016
Title
Conservation Photography: Second Place
Date Taken
3-27-2016
Category
Conservation
Preview
Description
70% of the sharks in our database have some sort of anthropogenic injury. The primary cause of these injuries are boat propellors. WS198, Nacocco suffered a horrific injury a few months ago on his right side which has just healed up. He was spotted again on the MPA this time with the same type of laceration on the left side of his body. The MPA is very busy and there is no limitation on number of boats or people. Some boats and guides are very good with encounters and other are not. Speeding is rampant on the MPA and often results in the types of injuries seen here. Whale shark tourism is beneficial for conservation and protection of the species but we have to make sure that this tourism is not having a negative impact on the sharks. Just another example of how positive human interactions with wildlife (such as whale shark tourism) can have negative unintended consequences (such as boat strikes).
Disciplines
Marine Biology | Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
Keywords
maldives, whale shark, conservation
Comments
Educational use only, no other permissions given. U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this item. Commercial use or distribution of this digital object is not permitted without written permission of the photographer.