Whale watching, feeding temporarily stopped in Bohol town

ENDANGERED Whale sharks swim freely in the waters off Bohol Island where plankton food is abundant. These giant sea creatures are drawing local and foreign tourists. —JESSE ACEBES

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Philippines — The provincial government has stopped all whale watching activities in Lila town, Bohol province, pending the passage of an ordinance that would regulate them.

The drafting of the ordinance would be done in coordination with the concerned government agencies such as the Department of Tourism, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to ensure that marine species were protected and the laws followed.

“We are not after the total ban of whale shark interaction but only on the ecological trapping of marine wildlife by provisioning and/or feeding and luring and other activities which will harm these marine mammals and which are in violation of the law,”said the executive order (EO) issued on Dec. 23 and directed to Lila Mayor Arturo Piollo II.

Move welcomed

The move of the provincial government was lauded by environmental groups that opposed the whale shark feeding and watching as tourism attraction.

“This is an initial victory for us and the ‘balilan’ [whale sharks] in Bohol. We will continue monitoring as we await the EO’s enforcement by the Lila government,” said Liza Macalandag of the Free the Whale Sharks Coalition-Bohol.

Jesse Vera Acebes of nonprofit group Balyena at Lumba sa Pilipinas said they hoped that the Lila town government would be open to adopt a better ecotourism activity.

According to Nilo Ahat, provincial legal officer, the Lila government has not passed an ordinance that would have laid down the guidelines and rules on whale shark interaction.

Ahat said the private operator of the whale shark activities in Lila did not even have a business permit but owned several boats that were used to ferry tourists who wished to interact with the mammals.

Gentle giants

Bohol has been recognized as one of the places in the world that is rich in marine resources. The presence of whale sharks in the waters off Lila has enticed tourists to visit the town to interact with the whale sharks, also known as the “gentle giants.”But the town’s whale shark feeding was met with protests from environmental groups that called it “an ecological trap” and “fake ecotourism.”

They said conditioning or feeding the whale sharks created negative effects on the mammals especially on their migration pattern.