Whale shark Sightings at Subic Bay
Photos taken by Kaila Ledesma, Ocean Adventure
A total of four whale shark sightings were documented for the first quarter of 2008. All of the whale sharks seen were trapped in the “lambaklad” of two fishermen associations of Morong at different time periods.
Feb 8
The Ecology Center (EC) received a call from Mr. Avelino “Amboy” Doloritos, chairman of Magic 25 Fishermen Association of Mabayo, Morong, Bataan at around 10:30 am of February 8. Four of EC staff who were at Hidden beach inspecting for crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) infestation rushed to the area for documentation. Unfortunately, upon searching at around 1pm, the reported whale shark was not seen and was believed to have escaped.
Feb 27
A call at around 11:30 from Mr. Restituto “Ka Resty” del Rosario of Bagong Pangarap Fishermen Association was received by one of the EC staff on the field. Right after the COTS removal at Hidden beach, the EC staff contacted Ocean Adventure rescue team and went to Sabang, Morong, Bataan. The members of the lambaklad, the ocean adventure rescue team and other residents were present at the area during the pagtataas ng net to find out that the whale shark has already escaped.
Feb 29
Mr. Avelino “Amboy” Doloritos again contacted EC and reported a whaleshark trapped in their lambaklad on Feb. 29, 2008 around 9:00 am. One of the EC staff contacted Ocean adventure rescue team to act in response to the incident. EC did not make it to the area but Ocean Adventure responded by sending a rescue team made up of 3 divers (Scott Sharpe, Doy Pascual & Ronnie Labadan), a boat driver (Ricky Gedaria) and documentor (Kaila Ledesma). By the time the team arrived at the site around 10:00 am, the SBMA harbor patrol was present in the area already and the members of the fishermen association on two boats pulling up one side of the net and a few other small bancas. Pascual and Labadan then entered the lambaklad to assess the whale shark's condition. The whale shark was positioned with its head pushing down towards the bottom of the net. Sharpe then entered the water to assess the best way of releasing the animal. The lambaklad consisted of 3 layers of nets. The whale shark was in the innermost net. Sharpe and the divers helped lift up the animal to the surface while the fishermen pushed down the floats lining then net under the shark so that they could move him over the net. The team and the fishermen managed to get the shark over the first two nets; however, they had to cut a portion of the last net to release the whale shark. Sharpe managed to observe the whale shark as it swam away from the net and said it looked like it was going to survive. The whale shark was about 5 - 7 meters long.
April 11
One of the EC staff again received a call from Mr. Avelino “Amboy” Doloritos and reported a trapped 15 ft whale shark at their lambaklad. The LED Harbor Patrol immediately went to the area to assist and the EC staff followed for documentation. Unfortunately, the whale shark managed to escape around 11 am before the EC staff reached Mabayo.
The Rescue Team