Researcher of IPB Supported the Conservation of Whale Shark in Gorontalo

The emergence of the whale shark around the waters of Pantai Batu Barani, Gorontalo this year managed to attract the attention of many parties. Travellers with an amount not less came in droves just to see or swim together with this gentle giant.

 

“Easy access and clear water in the waters of Gorontalo make a whale shark tour pretty much visited by tourists," said Mahardika Rizqi Himawan, the student of Postgraduate School of Marine Sciences, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) who was also the initiator of Whale Shark Indonesia (WS-ID). 

 

He said, the whale shark tour in other areas also occurred as in Teluk Cendrawasih, Talisayan of East Kalimantan, Probolinggo of East Java, and other areas. Currently, the team of WS-ID, IPB, and WWF was conducting the whale shark research in the waters of Gorontalo with the study of ecology and genetics as well as tourist activity. 

 

Advisor of WS-ID/IPB, Dr. Hawis Maddupa explained, through this research it was expected to know the individual characters and the genetics of the whale sharks that appeared in the waters of Gorontalo so as to guide the conservation efforts and the travel-friendly in the future.

 

Researcher of this whale shark of IPB conveyed that together with ITK IPB, WS-ID and WWF that were helped by various parties such as KKP, dive center, and other universities had managed to gather information about the whale sharks throughout Indonesia, including the genetic information. 

 

Search result of information turned out the interaction which was done by the tourists were still unfriendly. Many tourists that were osculant were out of curiosity or riding to show courage. Other thing, the numbers of ships and visitors were in one location, the emergence of the whale sharks looked pretty much.

 

"Not only unfriendly to the whale shark, the interaction like this can also endanger the tourists such as a flick of the tail which is large and powerful as well as the skin friction of the whale shark which is sharp. With the many numbers of visitors and ships approaching, the whale sharks are at risk of stress and injury due to the impact with a ship," said Casandra Tania, WWF-ID/WS-ID.***