Conservation Status
Like many other shark species, the whale shark has innate biological characteristics, such as large size, slow growth, late maturation and extended longevity, that probably limit recruitment and make it particularly susceptible to exploitation. International conservation status of the species is unclear - it is listed as having an 'Indeterminate' status on the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Animals. This category applies to animals known to be 'Endangered', 'Vulnerable' or 'Rare', but there is not enough information available to say which of these three categories is appropriate. In the 1996 IUCN Red List the whale shark's status is still considered to be "Data Deficient".
The whale shark may be at potential risk from pelagic fisheries. There are indications that even small traditional fisheries may be unsustainable, with catches from the seasonal fishery in the Philippines declining over recent years, but the reasons for this downward trend is unknown. Commercial fisheries for this species are limited at present, but may expand from an increased demand for food products. There may be a developing market for whale shark fins, with reports that some may recently have been sold in Hong Kong. In the Maldives the limited fishery for liver oil has ceased in recent years, and in June 1995 the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture introduced specific legislation banning all fishing for whale sharks. This protection was introduced because of the low monetary value of the fishery, the possible serious impact that the fishery may have been having on whale shark stocks, and the possible benefits to both the tuna fishery and tourist industry.
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With the worldwide growth of nature-based tourism, recreational snorkeling and scuba diving there has been a steady increase in the numbers of encounters with whale sharks. In a few locations, such as Ningaloo Reef in western Australia, the Galapagos Islands, the islands of the Andaman Sea off the coast of Thailand, the Sea of Cortez, and Baja California in the eastern Pacific, the south eastern coast of Mozambique and Sodwana Bay, where occurrences of whale sharks appear to be predictable, they are increasingly being targeted by commercial tourist operations. These operations provide a rare opportunity for close encounters between humans and large marine fauna, but may result in unknown effects on the shark's behavior and ecology. The annual aggregation of whale sharks at Ningaloo Reef has become, like the dolphins at Monkey Mia, an internationally know tourism attraction.