A paper published in the Frontiers in Marine Science Journal outlines an innovative new approach to aging whale sharks (Rhincodon typus). Using the increase of Carbon 14 that occurred after the nuclear bomb tests that started in the late 1940s as a datum, the technique can use the known decay curve of the radioactive isotope to provide an accurate age. So far, the results suggest that sharks are much more long-lived than was previously thought.

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We have a few spaces available on the 2018 Wetpixel Whale Sharks trip. It is running from 10 to 16 August and we will be based in comfortable accommodation at the Playa la Media Lune hotel on Isla Mujeres. Unlike most trips that run to see the sharks, our skippers are full time professional charter boat captains that spend the bulk of their time at seas looking for fish. We also tend to leave early and stay late, allowing us to maximize the crucial times when the sharks are relatively undisturbed by other parties.

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BBC India has reported on the remarkable story of Dinesh Goswami of the Prakruti Nature Club, Gujarat, India who has saved over 500 whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) by persuading local fishermen and politicians to protect them. When sharks become inadvertently tangled in fishing nets, Dinesh and his team record the animals statistics and the GPS location, before cutting the nets to release them.

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The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) reports that the Indonesian authorities have foiled an attempt to export two whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) into the marine megafauna trade in China and SE Asia.

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One of the largest whale shark processing factories in the world was recently uncovered in PuQi, China. Factory manager Mr. Li Guang admitted to processing more than 600 whale sharks a year at his factory. Whale sharks are listed as an endangered species.

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