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The beginning of hurricane season coincides with the arrival of the world’s largest fish in the waters of the Mexican Caribbean: the whale shark, a species that can be seen in all warm tropical seas. With a size of up to 18 meters, this shark, as enormous as it is harmless, is a tourist attraction from May to September in the most temperate seas of Mexico, where sighting and the possibility of swimming with this giant is an important source of income for the communities surrounding the feeding site of this species. Considered in danger of extinction since 2016, in recent decades the populations of this species have been decimated by more than 50%.
Activities focused on watching and swimming with marine species have become one of the most popular offers in recent decades. This represents a form of non-extractive use for vulnerable species. As Emanuele Mimila, marine biologist and project manager for Pronatura in the Yucatán Peninsula, an organization that has a program in the region for the conservation of the whale shark, explains: “Ecotourism has become an alternative that many choose. to protect him from the threat he finds himself in.”
Also found in Baja California, the sharks appear in constellations —as the aggregation of specimens is known— in Cabo Catoche, near Holbox Island, on the Yucatan Peninsula. They go there in search of food, explains Dr. Natalí Cárdenas, a biologist who advises the organization on projects and who has been studying the species since 2005. “Their grouping does not respond to social issues as marine mammals do. They do not travel in groups nor do they have dynamics marked by a social structure, but rather they do it for food,” she explains.
Thanks to satellite tags placed on some specimens, it is known that, on their migratory journeys, these giant fish move throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico. “Some reach Florida, the Caribbean islands. The longest voyages recorded in the Atlantic Ocean have been detected even in Brazilian waters,” says Mimila, one of the authors of a newly published study that monitorsto The environmentalist has been in the area since 2005 to investigate the impact of tourism on its populations. As the environmentalist explains, “it is an animal that can only be studied properly when it comes close to areas of human activity. It is difficult to track it in the open sea. Although we have learned a lot about them in recent years, such as that they can dive to depths of more than 2,000 metres, we still know very little about their biology and behaviour.”
According to observations made by the Pronatura team in the Yucatan Peninsula, since 2009 whale sharks have been added to the northern area of the Mexican Caribbean known as El Azul. This is one of the most important sites for whale sharks in the world, says Cárdenas. This surface, located in the Caribbean Mexico Biosphere Reserve and categorized as a Protected Natural Area since 2016, is characterized by the opulence of zooplankton due to the presence of dense masses of fish eggs. “It is an area of great abundance of food due to the upwelling of cold water and the spawning of tuna fish such as bonito,” says the marine biologist, who has been studying the behavior of this shark for almost a decade. In 2009, constellations made up of many specimens began to be observed in Azul. But, from 2016 to 2020, the number of sharks fluctuated. “In 2021, the decline was constant and drastic. The last three years have been the worst,” she laments.
In recent decades, not only has the dynamics of the species changed, but also the tourism associated with it. As Mimila explains, “all the activity linked to the whale shark grew rapidly. From 20 service providers dedicated to sighting and swimming, it went to hundreds of them.” Despite the various benefits that the activity brings in the region and its potential as a conservation strategy, the impact that human activities could have on the long-term population dynamics of the species is unknown. “Many activities are sold as ecotourism and they are not. In Mexico, irresponsible and uncontrolled tourism could be disturbing its ecology,” the environmentalist clarifies.
Among the major threats facing whale sharks in the world is their capture, a fishery motivated by their fins, which are highly valued in the Asian market. Other dangers include fishing nets where they become entangled. and collision with boatslethal attacks for so many species of marine fauna, mostly by cargo ships and oil tankers.
Although this type of death has not been recorded in El Azul, a scientific study ppublished this year showed how the increase The marine traffic represented a danger for the animal. “Up to 30% of the animals detected in the area had some type of injury due to collision. In the Azul, they report around 56 large ships per month, cargo ships that pass through here and that represent a fairly significant danger,” says Cárdenas, for whom the most serious threat to the whale shark is, without a doubt, climate change, which impacts marine currents and, as a consequence, food production. According to his study, food in the northern Caribbean has been decreasing. “Last year, records were broken in high temperatures and possibly this year we will do so as well. 2021, 2022 and 2023 have been very worrying years in terms of abundance of food for the whale shark,” concludes Cárdenas. Zooplankton, which so many marine animals feed on, moves dictated by currents, which are directly influenced by temperature. “Fish of great importance, such as bonito, spawn when they find pleasant temperatures. If these change, they can migrate to other places,” says the expert.
Although in some regions ecotourism has been a conservation tool, what is done in an uncontrolled manner can have the opposite effect. “It has been observed that whale sharks stop feeding, diving or shoaling as a result of actions derived from tourist activities,” says Mimila. In the Mexican Caribbean, the demand for tourism activity encouraged more than 300 permits to be issued. Fortunately, these were reduced with the arrival of the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp), which introduced many restrictions, such as the safety of vessels or the mandatory nature of adequate training,” he points out.
To date, up to 600 applications are still being received to work with the species, but only 240 have been granted. An improvement in the regulation and control of an activity that, according to the Pronatura biologist, “requires more long-term studies to understand the real impact of these activities.” His research is a first step towards better understanding the dynamics of the whale sharks that arrive in the Mexican Caribbean during the season, and to be able to adjust the regulation of the areas used for tourism.
“The objective is to take advantage of this data to design appropriate management strategies to reduce the impact of whale shark tourism in the Azul, considered a hotspot for this endangered species,” he says. In his opinion, despite the existence of a conservation strategy in which both those in charge of protected areas and service agents and businessmen are involved, “there are not always sufficient resources, neither economic nor human.”
For this reason, he defends, “greater efforts should be made in the training and offers of these activities in order to improve adequate training in the entire tourism sector that takes advantage of this species. It is necessary to increase the surveillance of the authorities and create more awareness that our actions as visitors can have a negative change in their populations.” As he warns, it may take up to 50 years until we see these effects. “And, perhaps, it is already too late. That is why we seek to unite ties with those who work linked to this species. In the end, we all want the same thing: to see healthy whale sharks and their population not decreasing. May many arrive to the shores of the Caribbean every year.”
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