Marine wildlife experts back

whaleshark tour suspension

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA)— Marine wildlife and sustainable ecotourism experts align with Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado’s executive decision to suspend the whale shark interaction activities in Bohol, considering that provisioning or feeding the wild animals disrupt their behavior and runs contrary to the tenets of sustainable and responsible eco-tourism.

As a keynote speaker during the Department of Tourism (DOT-organized) Sustainable Encounters: Responsible Marine Wildlife Tourism Seminar, March 21 at the Kew Hotel in Tagbilaran City, the governor laid his premise on Bohol’s marine ecosystems which are not just natural assets but heritage that sustains communities and drives the economy.

The governor announced the temporary closure of the whale shark inter-action tours in Lila, Alburquerque and Dauis on the first week of February, citing that their operations are in violation of Joint Memorandum Circular No 1 series of 2020-008 issued by the Department of Tourism, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture while provides for rules and regulations governing sustainable marine wildlife tourism interaction.

The JMC is also consistent with the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and incidentally, Bohol also passed Provincial Ordinance No 2020-008, which could not be immediately implemented pending the drafting of its Implementing Rules and Regulations, according to Aumentado during the DOT seminar.

All the cited laws, conventions and memorandum circulars expressly prohibit provisioning or feeding of the wild animals for conservation reasons.

The governor also noted that the operations, which certainly impacts on the environment, did not follow the usual processes of businesses getting the necessary Environmental Compliance Certificates and other regulatory permits.

Dr. Alessandro Ponzo, veterinarian and co-founder of Large Marine Vertebrates Research institute (LAMAVE Philippines) pointed out that the governor’s action is in line with Republic Act 9593 or the country’s Tourism Act which makes it a policy to promote ecologically sustainable and responsible tourism industry.

Ponzo, who did research studies of the large marine vertebrates in the Bohol sea in the past 2 decades explained that responsible tourism should not disturb, harass or change the natural behavior of animals and nature.

“It minimizes destruction, disturbance and changes to the natural environment and can be used to conserve and protect threatened species like the whale shark,” the large marine vertebrate researcher said. .

Meanwhile, Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines Executive Director Dr. AA Yaptinchay placed the wildlife tourism like the whale shark interactions in Bohol as a $120 billion industry that opens 22 million jobs.

Yaptinchay, who was in Bohol in the early 2000 to train the now defunct Bohol Rescue Unit for Marine Mammals (BRUMM) defined wildlife tourism as the “non-consumptive interactions with wildlife in their natural habitats, or viewing and interacting with captive animals in parks and these have the recreational aspects of adventure travel and usually supports the values of ecotourism and nature conservation programs.”

Balyena.org’s Jo Marie Acebes, who hails from Jagna and who did extensive research said “Bohol Sea is the only part of the Philippines with a confirmed sighting of a pygmy blue whale, the regular presence of 18 different kinds of dolphins and whales, and citing the manatee stranding in Baclayon, proves also that this sea is also home to the dugongs.”

And as a huge percentage of international travelers are into marine wildlife inter-actions, Bohol keeps an unusual edge on this kind of tourism in marine wildlife encounters.

Yaptinchay said marine wildlife attractions and activities include snorkeling, SCUBA diving, boat viewing and land viewing whale sharks, dolphins and whales, sea turtles, manatees, thresher and hammerhead sharks and manta and mobula rays.

But then, Ponzo, who sees in Bohol the huge potential as evidenced by the people who have invested much in laying the development direction, stressed that Bohol must get into the key components of wildlife watching: Sustainability, legislation, livelihood, social justice and ethics, impacts on the wildlife habitat and wildlife ecology.

In the case of whale sharks, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the largest fish as endangered where there is a 50% population decline in the last 3 generations.

Almost always found in tropical and warm temperate seas, whale sharks can live inshore and offshore for over a hundred years, can dive to depths over 1800 meters and can tolerate temperatures below 3 degrees Centigrade, and since these are migratory animals, they travel across oceans to scour for food.

Provisioning or feeding them makes the wild animal dependent on the feeding, will tend to stay for the food and would lose the chance of foraging to seek for the different nutrients found in other food which their body needs.

Moreover, by feeding them, the wild animals have shown that they can be more accustomed to human activity, and forces them to stay in the surface, presenting them as vulnerable to getting run over by propeller boats or easy poaching. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)