For 34-year-old fisherman Jeffrey Cuerda, the whale sharks have provided him a “more abundant” life for his wife and two high school-age children.
Yesterday, he led a CDN team 40 meters away from the seashore to “Fermin,” a male whale shark at least eight feet long.
The whale shark, with faded yellow spots on its back, was being fed small shrimps by fishermen so it would not swim away.
Two other whale sharks which local fishermen have named “Lucas” and “Sandro” entertained other divers, as the huge marine animals chased and played with bubbles in the sea.
Cuerda said the three whale sharks have been in the area for two years and already respond to calls of local fishermen. He said they earn P400 to P600 daily as guides for visitors who want to see or swim with the sea creatures.
The amount is a far cry from his P200-300 daily income catching or selling fish. He belongs to a group of about 20 fishermen offer their services as guides.
A beach resort that used to be closed to the public also opened last year and became the gateway for sea vessels that go out to sea looking for the whale sharks.
For P300, a person can enter the resort and take a 40-minute boat ride, and a chance to get near the whale sharks.
Ramon Lagahid, a 52-year-old resident, said whale sharks have been frequenting the area since the 1980s.
“We would just push them away while we catch fish,” he said.
However last August, a foreign diver who heard about the whale sharks in Oslob asked local fisherman for assistance in his dive.
The visitors were surprised when two whale sharks stayed alongside their boat as they fed them.
“The foreigner gave us a big tip so we decided to continue doing it. Now it’s our main means of livelihood,” said Lagahid.
If the town will lead the eco-tourism thrust for the whale sharks, Cuerda said he would support it.
“We are willing to cooperate with their programs, as long as they never take away our livelihood,” he said Cebuano.
Cuerda said they tell visitors not to touch or try to ride the whale sharks because this would stress them.
The whales are also given a “break” of at least two hours in the afternoon in order not to tire them, he said.
Mario Marababol, a marine biologist of Ocean Care, said whale sharks are territorial and migratory, but they flock to areas where there is plankton to eat.
He said the coast in barangay Tang-an of Oslob is an “upwelling area” of the currents from the Bohol Sea, Tañon Strait and the Surigao Strait, which are sea routes of whale sharks.
Based on the behavior of the whale sharks in Oslob, he said these already appeared “domesticated” and dependent on fishermen for their food instead of hunting on their own.
He warned that this would disrupt the natural hunting instincts of the whale sharks.
Domestication will also make them vulnerable to bacteria or to unscrupulous fishermen in other area who may hunt them.
“We are lucky because the fisherfolk in this area are environment friendly,” he said.
Whale sharks can grow up to 40 feet and live for 40 to 50 years.
He said the pod of about 14 whale sharks that fishers said frequent the area are “sub-adults” between 4 to 6 years old.
Whale sharks can also been seen in Sorsogon, Southern Leyte and Pamilacan Island in Bohol province, where local coastal communities also developed eco-tourism and act as guides.
“But it is only here that they can be seen for long period and interact with the people,” he said.
He said that the species are gentle and friendly.
Maria Plutsar, 33, an Austrian national and professional diver said Cebu’s marine life was unusual.
She said she has dived in sites around the world like Egypt, the Canary Islands and Thailand but that this was her first close encounter with a whale shark.
“It’s my first time to see a whale shark this close. I’m surprised because it does not swim away. It’s really fantastic,” she said.
“Under normal circumstances, its very difficult to see this. But here it really stays.”
Plutsar said she visited the country just to dive in Cebu and had previously dived off in Moalboal town with her friends.Reporter Candeze Mongaya