Sharks and Whale Sharks in Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines
Sharks, as apex predators, are crucial to the stability of their underwater world, yet they've always been feared, maligned and misunderstood.
They're among the planet's most successful hunters, and they've ruled the seas unchallenged for nearly 400 million years. But now, after just a few decades of persecution and over-fishing, they're in danger of being killed off for ever. (The Shark Trust
Sharks in the Philippines are quite common but still you have to be lucky to see them. Here around Cebu you have chances to see some at Malapascua Island, near Mactan Island, and of course here in Moalboal. Moalboal is visited regularly by whale sharks, thresher sharks and has resident white tip sharks at Pescador Island.
Whale sharks in Moalboal, Cebu, Philippines
Verified whale shark encounters increase in Moalboal year by year.
Two organizations are dedicated in whale shark research. Both organizations are asking divers who had the luck to make some underwater pictures to send them these pictures for scientific reasons. As Mark Holmberg from ECOCEAN Whale Shark Photo-ID Library explains: "To help us uniquely identify individual whale sharks from photographs, we just completed work on a pattern-matching system that allows us to scan for other photos of the same shark if we have good left- or right-side shots of the shark's natural skin patterning. This is an excellent and very possibly more reliable method of tracking these animals than traditional spear-based invasive tagging. If you are very interested, sign up for the
Savedra - Some of us must live underwater!
