Ocean Conservation & Tidalpunk

Previously, whale sharks had only been tagged by using a pole spear. The tag would last no longer than six months. But over the next 10 years, from 2015-25, the data from the new tags revealed previously unmapped movements of the whale sharks and helped highlight seamounts that are used as foraging sites and whale shark highways, which needed to be protected.

The team’s data are now being used by the Indonesian government to help establish a whale shark-based marine protected area in Saleh Bay this year. “The zoning considers critical habitats, including no-take zones that cover key whale shark areas [like] nursery or juvenile habitats as well as mangroves, which support prey availability, such as shrimp and [plankton],” says Putra, who is the focal species conservation senior manager at Konservasi Indonesia.