1. OVERFISHING- A TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS.

    One of the main reasons for the sharp decrease in the whale shark population in recent years is overfishing, and this has been known to be a tragedy of the commons. A tragedy of the common refers to a situation in which individuals use common pool resources in their self-interest, to the point that the collective demand for that resource puts a strain on the natural environment, as those resources become depleted quicker than the earth is able to replenish it. In these situations, the common pool resources seem large and able to replenish itself, hence people feel that their individual use (or decision to abstain from use) of the resource has little impact on the environment- and this is has been the case for whale sharks. It has been widely known that whale sharks can be found in many regions of the world, and this leads people to think that the population of whale sharks is relatively large. While that might have been true in the past, this mentality of how one person’s fishing would not vastly affect the large abundance of whale sharks might have been one of the key reasons for the quick depletion of the whale shark population. Being a common pool resource that has the potential to recover through reproduction, whale sharks have been the target of many fishing communities as they see monetary value in the selling of these sharks. Despite efforts on educating populations on whale shark endangerment, the perceived abundance of these creatures have allowed fishing communities to rationalize their actions by believing that their personal efforts would be futile since it is such a widespread problem, and instead of making a change to the current state of endangerment, it would only result in their livelihoods being taken away by other fishermen. With this, fishing rates have risen high above the rate at which whale sharks reproduce, causing a large and fast decline in their population.

    • TARGET FISHING OF WHALE SHARKS

    With the culture of eating sharks fin as a Chinese delicacy and appreciating exotic animal products, the Asian market has been a large fuelling force contributing to the demand for the killing of whale sharks for its fins and oil. This demand is met with a ready supply, as the sale of whale shark meat brings in large profits for its exotic nature. Examples of countries that add to the demand for whale sharks include Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China, and some of the countries that contribute the most of the overfishing of whale sharks are Philippines, Japan, and the United States, where you would find large-scale fisheries where hundreds of sharks are caught annually in each of these countries.
    In addition, not only do whale shark finning result in endangerment, they are also highly unethical as they abuse the animals, putting them through large amounts of emotional and physical distress- throwing them back into the sea without a fin leaves the whale sharks to die of blood loss or suffocation.

    • NON-TARGET FISHING: BYCATCH

    The goal of many fishing companies have moved from subsistence to commercialisation. Along with the increase in shark fishing were also increases in the fishing of many other fish. In the case of non-target fishing, many fishermen cast large nets that result in whale sharks also being caught in the process. These large nets being cast into the sea have also destroyed coral reefs, as they get trapped and pulled out along with the fish that are being caught. The destruction of coral reefs is yet another factor that adversely affects the survival of the whale sharks- and this will be discussed in the next section.

  2. HABITAT DESTRUCTION 

    Whale sharks have been victims of the careless pollution of the seas. With increased industrialisation, high levels of industrial waste have been dumped into the seas. Coupled with oil spills resulting from the increase in ships sailing from country to country for trade purposes, the health of marine ecosystems have been adversely affected. Given the large appetite of whale sharks to support their diet, the loss of marine biodiversity decreased the pool of prey for the whale sharks, hence affecting their survival.More than of the loss of marine biodiversity, the oil spills and other irresponsible fishing methods have also resulted in the change in pH levels of the water, which affect the survival of the coral reefs. Although little research has been done on the dependence of whale sharks on the coral reefs, evidence shows that the population of the whale sharks have been positively correlated to the population of coral reefs.In addition, the marine debris that result from industrial waste being dumped into oceans is the poisoning of the whale sharks, as they feed through filter feeding. This makes them especially vulnerable as well to small debris being ingested along with the other small organisms such as zooplanktons and tiny shrimps.

  3. VESSEL COLLISIONS

    Whale sharks are known to feed occasionally at the surface of the oceans, and shipping lanes that are near these feeding areas pose a threat to the whale shark population. Their feeding habits and long hours spent at the surfaces of the water has made them especially vulnerable to vessel collisions. Despite the fact that they are large in size and have thick skin, these features are not enough to protect them from the fatality of vessel strikes. Reports of whale shark deaths as a result of vessel collisions are known to be under-reported, as many of the reported incidents involve slow-moving vessels, thus there is a high likelihood that the fast-moving vessels passing through did not report incidents with the whale sharks.