Whale Shark Tourism is Indispensable for One Small Island

Researchers have recently found that whale shark tourism in the Maldivian Atoll accounts for nearly three percent of all shark tourism across the globe. That's a stunning number considering that the Maldives is a relatively small and little-known island nation. This of course raised the question, "so how important is the whale shark to these islands?"

To answer this question, researchers from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme (MWSRP) closely analyzed the island nation's economy and annual tourism numbers.

The results were published Monday in the peer reviewed journal PeerJ.

"The Republic of Maldives hosts one of few known year round aggregation sites for whale sharks," James Hancock, co-author and a director of MWSRP, said in a recent statement. "We have seen that they have become a major tourism draw to South Ari atoll, but we didn't expect these big numbers."

The study found that whale shark ecotourism accounted for nearly half the island nation's tourism, with the South Ari atoll Marine Protected Area (SAMPA) attracting 77,000 tourists and making $9.4 million in 2013 alone.

Study author Neal Collins, a joint researcher from IUCN and MWSRP, said they were very thorough with their findings, wanting to show just how important one of the world's largest fish can be to an economy just by existing.

"We actually went out and counted how many boats and people were in the water looking for sharks," he said.

"By doing so we were able to estimate not only how many people were interacting with the sharks, but also where and how they do it," added co-author Fernando Cagua.

The study found that overall, the Maldives make about $20 million off whale shark tourism alone.

Interestingly, Cagua says they aren't even sure why the sharks are there and for how long they stay, but they can be seen around the islands almost year-round - unusual behavior for these oceanic behemoths.

"There are still many mysteries about these whale sharks... but bringing the money issue to the table is an important step towards ensuring their conservation."