Netted Whale Shark: Oh so that’s what’s been happening…? Duh?
So, since I started working in the Inhambane waters, 7 years back…I would say the decline in whale shark encounters I have had, has been about 90%. I mean, this whole last trip myself and Roosta just did, for 12 days, Ponto D’ Ouro to Pomene, and we never saw one!
Sure they used to disappear back in those early years, for months at a time – but always came back with at least a few shows of strength…I once counted 70 whale sharks around my boat, off Praia da Rocha. 70!
So while the world watches TV and is focused on this Pistorius clown and Rhino’s…quietly, someone has been simply removing our whale sharks. And whatever else can be removed, out over the horizon or in the dark of night.
I have to align with Mr. Carlos Carvalhos, conservation activist and journalist in Maputo, when he asks – “What is being done by the plentiful NGO’s and conservation associations, littered around Mozambique and Southern Africa in general”.
I have never seen them intervene, or bring any of this slaughter to attention. It’s usually just covered up and forgotten. Granted, there are many individuals out there in the field, totally committed to the conservation of these animals, but the bureaucratic organisations with all the required resources and budget…do very little at all, except give lectures and drive around spotting the last of the marine life, just as it just disappears beneath the waves forever.
Whose role is it then, to intervene? Someone with all the required resources and mandates? Someone who signed up for the job?
Many thanks to Carlos Carvalhos. Follow him on MOZ INFO by clicking here…
