Whale Sharks in the Sulu Sea

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9722909 Kooyman This is a 24-month award proposed by Drs. Gerald Kooyman and Scott Eckert, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. This is a three-country (U.S., Malaysia and the Philippines) cooperative study on whale sharks, Rhincodon typus, in the Sulu Sea. The project will be carried out by a team of researchers from three U.S. institutes: the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Hubbs Sea World Research Institute, and the University of Florida, and four Malaysian and Philippine institutes: the Universiti of Sabah (Borneo Marine Research Unit) and Sabah Parks (Marine Division) in Malaysia, and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and Silliman University in the Philippines. Dr. Kooyman, who is the U.S.P.I., requests funds for U.S. components of student support and for travel and field costs for studying the migration and movement patterns of the whale shark, Rhincodon typus. The team of researchers plans to use satellite telemetry and Spaghetti tagging to define the home range and distribution of whale sharks in the Sulu Sea. There is little information available on whale shark in the Sulu Sea. This is a very important conservation and biological study of a species, which has been exploited extensively by humans for its meat and fin products. This is the first time that satellite telemetry is being used to track whale sharks. The experience gained from this study can be applied to many other large fish species in other parts of the ocean. The data collected from this study can not only provide vital information leading to a more precise estimate of the overall shark population, and on its migration and home range, but also can lead to improvement in the conservation of this species despite increased human exploitation. This project is jointly supported by Sabah Parks (Marine Division) in Malaysia, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Philippine, and NSF.