Photos of a helpless whale shark (Rhincodon typus), locally known as “tuki,” with its tail tied and its back mounted by joyriders, are a perversion of what ecotourism is about.
Respect for wildlife is totally absent in this picture.
The incident didn’t take place in Oslob town, which is enjoying a tourism boom with young whale sharks swimming close to shore to be hand-fed by local fishermen, but a little farther south in Boljoon town.
Nevertheless, this is the kind of foolish spectacle that can arise any place where lack of awareness or plain ignorance makes gifts of Nature fair game for exploitation.
Yes, even in a fisherman’s village where you’d think residents would know better.
The images sparked outrage on Facebook. Further checking by Cebu Daily News
traced the “surf board” scene to the heritage town of Boljoon. We ran the images on page 1 to raise the alarm.
It wasn’t much “fun” for the whale shark at all. It was cruelty and ignorance masquerading as fun.
Once Boljoon Mayor Teresita Celis got over her initial knee-jerk denial that this could happen in her town, and asked around, she said she would call down tough punishment – next time around.
The whale sharks have been swimming past Cebu shores for generations, part of their migratory path. They’ve been hunted for their meat, fins and oil till a ban was called in the 1990s.
It’s only now that we’re talking about being strict about keeping them alive and well, for more tourists to come and have a new spectator sport.
The good thing about the tourism promotion is that it provides a reason to keep the gentle giants alive, instead of a piece of meat at the end of a harpoon.
But we have miles to go before Cebu deserves to call the circus going on in south Cebu “eco-tourism”.
We have a lot of work ahead to understand or genuinely appreciate the wonder of these behemoths that track paths of plankton and krill around the world, and stop by the tropical waters of Cebu to feed some more.
We have much to learn about fostering respect for Nature and coexisting with these marine animals that scientists say remain one of the mysteries of the sea.
Maybe we should rethink the whale shark enterprise in Oslob.
How well can coastal communities enforce the “no touching” “no feeding” “stay three meters away” rules set up overnight by town officials?
What happens when a P300 per paddle boat ride becomes license to use the wide back of a whale shark for another surf board experience?
These gentle giants belong in the open sea.
Marine biologists don’t even know for sure where they go and how they navigate their long-haul voyages.
No single island can lay claim to whale sharks as an indigenous species. The shark schools are not residents. They’re just passing through.
It may be time to rethink the whale shark business and return to a thumb rule of conservation: What belongs to the wild is best left in the wilds.