Arabian Whale Shark Symposium
| "We need to draw more attention to just how critically important this region’s whale shark story really is." |
| - Jonathan Ali Khan |
The First Ever Arabian Whale Shark Symposium Brings Together Key Stakeholders
Listed as Vulnerable according to the IUCN’s Red List of Endangered Species, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are the largest fish in our planet’s oceans and yet, they still remain one of our greatest mysteries. The long list of questions surrounding this gentle giant’s nomadic life means that scientists know less about them, than what they do know. Thanks to the regional awareness project called The Sharkquest Arabia Initiative, this is soon about to change; through the holding of the first Arabian Seas Whale Shark Research Symposium & Workshop on this coming weekend of December 11th and 12th at Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort, Fujairah.
Researcher David Rowat tagging a whale shark in the Indian Ocean. (Photo: Tom Peschak / SOSF)
Sponsored by the Save Our Seas Foundation and hosted by Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort, with support from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the Emirates Diving Association (EDA), the Kuwait Environmental Research and Awareness Group (KERA), Scuba Dubai, Al Boom Diving and Wild Planet Productions; the 2 day event is targeting the region’s conservation, diving, fishing and boating communities through a series of fascinating presentations by the world’s leading whale shark specialists and 2 workshops custom designed to inform and impart skills on how to establish a regional photo ID database in the Arab World.
According to project Leader and organizer of the symposium, Jonathan Ali Khan, a Dubai based natural history film maker with Wild Planet Productions and founder of the Sharkquest Arabia Initiative, the whale sharks in the Arabian Gulf and Arabian Sea may hold the key to the survival of the species in the whole Indian Ocean.
Ali Khan says “Many people here had only heard of or read something about whale sharks after the UAE media covered the controversial apparent rescue of a female whale shark that was named “Sammy” and subsequent holding of this migratory animal inside a Dubai based hotel aquarium since last September. This charismatic flagship species has always caught the imagination of the local media and community with regular reports of sightings being covered in the region’s papers. And yet, despite this apparent interest, we still need to draw more attention to just how critically important this region’s whale shark story really is. We are talking globally important.”
He goes on to explain, “The main aim of the Symposium is to create an event that acts as a platform of communication and forum of discussion between international researchers studying whale sharks elsewhere and us here in this region; in order to determine relationships and connections between Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean whale shark populations. We are confident that this will prove to be an important event as we have been successful in attracting the participation of the leading marine scientists and NGO’s currently active in whale shark studies around the world and firmly believe that our conference is on the brink of shaping a networking forum through which shared information can create true insights into the role of Arabia’s whale shark population. It is our opinion that in light of the role that our waters play as nurseries and feeding grounds for whale sharks, this region may hold the key to the welfare of the Indian Ocean population of whale sharks. If that is proved to be the case, then we need to encourage support for regional research and international collaboration, identifying national stakeholders and forming a declaration to launch the Arabian Seas Whale Shark Research Program”.
Both days of the event are open to the region’s conservation authorities, diving industry, diving community, fishermen and sports fishermen, boating and sailing enthusiasts, all Government sectors and conservation and environmental NGO’s, Schools, Universities, Colleges and general public as a whole. Access to attend and participate in the Symposium and Workshop is free for both days. The hotel is offering special rates for anyone interested to stay overnight between day 1 and 2. The main intention is to turn this event into a whale shark festival that celebrates the uniqueness of this flagship threatened species.
Researcher David Rowat tagging a whale shark in the Indian Ocean. (Photo: Tom Peschak / SOSF)
Sponsored by the Save Our Seas Foundation and hosted by Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort, with support from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the Emirates Diving Association (EDA), the Kuwait Environmental Research and Awareness Group (KERA), Scuba Dubai, Al Boom Diving and Wild Planet Productions; the 2 day event is targeting the region’s conservation, diving, fishing and boating communities through a series of fascinating presentations by the world’s leading whale shark specialists and 2 workshops custom designed to inform and impart skills on how to establish a regional photo ID database in the Arab World.
According to project Leader and organizer of the symposium, Jonathan Ali Khan, a Dubai based natural history film maker with Wild Planet Productions and founder of the Sharkquest Arabia Initiative, the whale sharks in the Arabian Gulf and Arabian Sea may hold the key to the survival of the species in the whole Indian Ocean.
Ali Khan says “Many people here had only heard of or read something about whale sharks after the UAE media covered the controversial apparent rescue of a female whale shark that was named “Sammy” and subsequent holding of this migratory animal inside a Dubai based hotel aquarium since last September. This charismatic flagship species has always caught the imagination of the local media and community with regular reports of sightings being covered in the region’s papers. And yet, despite this apparent interest, we still need to draw more attention to just how critically important this region’s whale shark story really is. We are talking globally important.”
He goes on to explain, “The main aim of the Symposium is to create an event that acts as a platform of communication and forum of discussion between international researchers studying whale sharks elsewhere and us here in this region; in order to determine relationships and connections between Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean whale shark populations. We are confident that this will prove to be an important event as we have been successful in attracting the participation of the leading marine scientists and NGO’s currently active in whale shark studies around the world and firmly believe that our conference is on the brink of shaping a networking forum through which shared information can create true insights into the role of Arabia’s whale shark population. It is our opinion that in light of the role that our waters play as nurseries and feeding grounds for whale sharks, this region may hold the key to the welfare of the Indian Ocean population of whale sharks. If that is proved to be the case, then we need to encourage support for regional research and international collaboration, identifying national stakeholders and forming a declaration to launch the Arabian Seas Whale Shark Research Program”.
Both days of the event are open to the region’s conservation authorities, diving industry, diving community, fishermen and sports fishermen, boating and sailing enthusiasts, all Government sectors and conservation and environmental NGO’s, Schools, Universities, Colleges and general public as a whole. Access to attend and participate in the Symposium and Workshop is free for both days. The hotel is offering special rates for anyone interested to stay overnight between day 1 and 2. The main intention is to turn this event into a whale shark festival that celebrates the uniqueness of this flagship threatened species.
As primary sponsor, the Executive Director of the International Conservation Organization; Save Our Seas Foundation, Chris Clarke, says “By supporting the Whale Shark Symposium, we intend to create a forum through which scientists, local stakeholders, SCUBA divers and the general public can network, share knowledge, and collaborate in order to understand and safeguard this most impressive and lovable animal - the largest of the fishes. It is also vital that we raise awareness of Whale Sharks and their status and role in the oceans throughout the region. Through media releases and educational workshops we will reach out to the local communities and school children fostering their interest and urging them to play their part in protecting their Marine Environment”.
The Sharkquest Arabia Initiative is a TV documentary project produced by Wild Planet Productions; that is largely supported through a grant from The Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi and IFAW, with additional support from Scuba Dubai, Scubapro, Sony Broadcast & Professional, Western Digital, Al Boom Diving and Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort. As Ali Khan goes on to mention “The Sharkquest Arabia Initiative is in the process of making a film that highlights the links between the Arabian Sea’s whale shark hotspots and defines the overall role of Arabia’s whale sharks in context with the overall Indian Ocean population. We are trying to identify the missing links that are currently absent from the global picture.”
“As such, we are attempting to understand whether the whale shark populations that exist around the margins of the Arabian Sea basin are intrinsically linked; using these areas as nurseries and maybe eventually becoming the adults that will populate the central and Southern Indian Ocean as they mature and spread South.”
“As part of this whale shark film development, we immediately saw the need to help create a platform so that all of these fragmented and previously isolated research projects can start communicating and sharing data and resources as part of a regional Arabian Sea network. To that end, we designed the First Arabian Sea Whale Shark Research Symposium and Workshop to introduce the regional status of whale sharks into a platform of debate and presentations to the Arab World counterparts. This is designed to stimulate and focus regional interest from within the scientific and conservation communities throughout the Arab world. We will also launch the AWSRP (Arabian Whale Shark Research Program) Photo ID Database designed to involve the Arab World’s diving, fishing and boating communities in order to initiate input from this region adding data that will aid other regional researchers already employing the I3S system and ECOCEAN's global database.
In the afternoon of December 10th, a pre-event meeting will be held between all participants and organizers in order to form and the ASWSRP (Arabian Seas Whale Shark Research Program) declaration that will be launched during the event.
On December 11th, the first day of the symposium will feature an exciting series of informative presentations by key guest speakers from throughout the Arabian Sea basin involved in whale shark research & conservation. These presentations will feature an overview of their work, status, issues and findings, etc. This day is designed to create an overview of whale shark research and conservation from across the Arabian Sea and to highlight the missing link represented by the absence of information from the Arab World.
Presentations will be made by Mr. Azzedine Downes (Vice President, IFAW), Chris Clarke (Executive Director, SOSF), Dr Lamya Mohammad (Emirates Foundation, Director of Environmental Programme), Dr. David Rowat (MCSS-Seychelles & Djibouti), Dr. Brad Norman (ECOCEAN - Australia), Dr. Simon Pierce (WSRP - MRRP, Mozambique), Dr. Brent Stewart (Hubbs-Seaworld Research Institute, USA), Richard Rees and Morgan Riley (MWSRP, Maldives), Guy Stevens (MMRP- Maldives), Vivek Menon (Wildlife Trust - India) Abdul Rahim (WWF –MCWC, Pakistan) and Jonathan Ali Khan (The Sharkquest Arabia Initiative). The day’s proceedings will end with a forum of discussion through a debate and Q & A attempting to determine what the missing links are.
The second day will feature a workshop on the use of I3S Photo ID software and creating a whale shark Photo ID Database hosted by Dr. David Rowat (MCSS, Seychelles & Djibouti). This will feature a full explanation on how it works, how image acquisition leads to data and how individuals can contribute towards the database. A second workshop hosted by the Founder of the global database ECOCEAN will show how to integrate regional information into the global database making it useful for research projects throughout the world. Both workshops are designed to help launch the formation of the Arabian Seas Whale Shark Research Program.
Following this will be a series of other regionally relevant shark presentations on more local issues including Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Silky Sharks (Chris Clarke - SOSF), Sharks in Kuwait (Dareen AlMojil - KERA), Sharks in Oman (Dr. Aaron Henderson - SQU), Sharks in the UAE (Dr. Elsayed Mohamed, IFAW), to be followed by a debate discussing how far must conservation go to save sharks?
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This region may hold the key to the welfare of the Indian Ocean population of whale sharks. |
The Sharkquest Arabia Initiative is a TV documentary project produced by Wild Planet Productions; that is largely supported through a grant from The Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi and IFAW, with additional support from Scuba Dubai, Scubapro, Sony Broadcast & Professional, Western Digital, Al Boom Diving and Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort. As Ali Khan goes on to mention “The Sharkquest Arabia Initiative is in the process of making a film that highlights the links between the Arabian Sea’s whale shark hotspots and defines the overall role of Arabia’s whale sharks in context with the overall Indian Ocean population. We are trying to identify the missing links that are currently absent from the global picture.”
“As such, we are attempting to understand whether the whale shark populations that exist around the margins of the Arabian Sea basin are intrinsically linked; using these areas as nurseries and maybe eventually becoming the adults that will populate the central and Southern Indian Ocean as they mature and spread South.”
“As part of this whale shark film development, we immediately saw the need to help create a platform so that all of these fragmented and previously isolated research projects can start communicating and sharing data and resources as part of a regional Arabian Sea network. To that end, we designed the First Arabian Sea Whale Shark Research Symposium and Workshop to introduce the regional status of whale sharks into a platform of debate and presentations to the Arab World counterparts. This is designed to stimulate and focus regional interest from within the scientific and conservation communities throughout the Arab world. We will also launch the AWSRP (Arabian Whale Shark Research Program) Photo ID Database designed to involve the Arab World’s diving, fishing and boating communities in order to initiate input from this region adding data that will aid other regional researchers already employing the I3S system and ECOCEAN's global database.
In the afternoon of December 10th, a pre-event meeting will be held between all participants and organizers in order to form and the ASWSRP (Arabian Seas Whale Shark Research Program) declaration that will be launched during the event.
On December 11th, the first day of the symposium will feature an exciting series of informative presentations by key guest speakers from throughout the Arabian Sea basin involved in whale shark research & conservation. These presentations will feature an overview of their work, status, issues and findings, etc. This day is designed to create an overview of whale shark research and conservation from across the Arabian Sea and to highlight the missing link represented by the absence of information from the Arab World.
Presentations will be made by Mr. Azzedine Downes (Vice President, IFAW), Chris Clarke (Executive Director, SOSF), Dr Lamya Mohammad (Emirates Foundation, Director of Environmental Programme), Dr. David Rowat (MCSS-Seychelles & Djibouti), Dr. Brad Norman (ECOCEAN - Australia), Dr. Simon Pierce (WSRP - MRRP, Mozambique), Dr. Brent Stewart (Hubbs-Seaworld Research Institute, USA), Richard Rees and Morgan Riley (MWSRP, Maldives), Guy Stevens (MMRP- Maldives), Vivek Menon (Wildlife Trust - India) Abdul Rahim (WWF –MCWC, Pakistan) and Jonathan Ali Khan (The Sharkquest Arabia Initiative). The day’s proceedings will end with a forum of discussion through a debate and Q & A attempting to determine what the missing links are.
The second day will feature a workshop on the use of I3S Photo ID software and creating a whale shark Photo ID Database hosted by Dr. David Rowat (MCSS, Seychelles & Djibouti). This will feature a full explanation on how it works, how image acquisition leads to data and how individuals can contribute towards the database. A second workshop hosted by the Founder of the global database ECOCEAN will show how to integrate regional information into the global database making it useful for research projects throughout the world. Both workshops are designed to help launch the formation of the Arabian Seas Whale Shark Research Program.
Following this will be a series of other regionally relevant shark presentations on more local issues including Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Silky Sharks (Chris Clarke - SOSF), Sharks in Kuwait (Dareen AlMojil - KERA), Sharks in Oman (Dr. Aaron Henderson - SQU), Sharks in the UAE (Dr. Elsayed Mohamed, IFAW), to be followed by a debate discussing how far must conservation go to save sharks?