One Saturday back in April 2004, I decided somewhat hastily to go
to Donsol, Sorsogon, at the southern tip of Luzon in the
Philippines, to check out the whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), also
known in Bicolano as Butanding. It is a three-hour drive south from
Naga to Donsol by way of Daraga, Albay, giving me a chance to check
out Mayon volcano. The perfect cone appears to have been damaged by
recent eruptions as viewed from the Camalig/Guinobatan side.
Sorsogon is one of the six provinces in Southern Luzon in the
Philippines which belong to what is referred to as the Bicol
Region.

I arrived in Donsol at the Butanding Interaction Center in Woodland
Resort at around 9:15 am, and was on a boat with a crew of four by
9:30 am. Why four? Well, it turns out that I needed a motor
operator, a pilot, a spotter and a guide, otherwise known as a BIO
(Butanding Interaction Officer). This was a very good and
conscientious crew.

Within thirty minutes, we had ten sightings of the Butanding, and a
total of 17 sightings in one hour. I was not sure if these
sightings were all different individuals but they did look
different to me. Some were big and long (males), others shorter and
wider (females). Some were juveniles. Some had damaged tails or
fins (a.k.a. the BIO called one individual Putol) and others had
scars (scar face, etc.) It also helped that March to May is the
best time to watch these gentle giants and that the moon was full,
which supposedly encourages greater activity among them. I was not
prepared to snorkel, and so did not see the sharks at even closer
range, short of touching them. The Center was run by an NGO in
cooperation with the local government, and was doing well in
helping the local fisherfolk earn income from eco-tourism. By the
time my boat sailed out into the bay, thirty other trips had
already been initiated on that day to interact with the Butanding.
Apparently, if I went out to the bay when the center opened at 7:30
am, I would have seen the Butanding surfacing even more. But the
sightings I experienced at 9:30-10:00 am were close enough.

The NGO turned out to be the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). It
appears that whale sharks have long swarmed Donsol waters to feed
on the bay's abundant plankton. The sharks had coexisted
peacefully with locals, when in 1997, word got out that the rare
shark and the world's largest fish migrated to Donsol every
summer. This spurred Donsol officials to organize a whale shark
interaction program for tourists and to declare Donsol as a whale
shark sanctuary. WWF, under a matching grant from US Agency for
International Development, began providing support in 2004 to
ensure that Donsol's growing tourism contributes to both marine
conservation and local livelihoods. Hunting of this vulnerable
population of whale sharks is now banned to deal with constant
threats from hunters attracted by the lucratively priced shark fins
and meat.

Donsol municipality is also promoting a river cruise and firefly
tour as part of its diversification program of ecotourism
activities. The Regional Director of Tourism for Bicol proudly
reports that, in the past five years, Donsol has moved from being
one of the poorest to one of the richest municipalities in the
Bicol region.

In November, 2004, Time Asia Magazine's 2004 Best of Asia
Report selected whale shark watching in Donsol as best animal
encounter.

A good weblink on the whale sharks of Donsol is www.camperspoint.com

Gil Dy-Liacco traces his roots to Naga City in the Philippines, and
works with USAID/Philippines as Mission Economist and Deputy Chief
for Program Resources Management.

Globetrotter Jon Hornbuckle wrote in to add his experience of whale
sharks: the only time I saw a whale-shark was off San Blas, west
Mexico in Feb. We took a small boat off-shore to look for birds and
were surprised to see the relatively small whale-shark right by the
boat, quite common at this time according to the boatman.