An early contribution from MWSRP for a global level understanding of population dynamics in the whale shark. Abstract Background: Whale sharks are a declining species for which little biological data is available. While these animals are protected in many parts of their range, they are fished legally and illegally in some countries. Baseline biological and […]

As a tool for planning future whale shark fieldwork and sighting frequency correlations, the MWSRP utilising equipment donated by Valeport Ltd. aimed to conduct a detailed recording of the tidal cycle at Dhigurah island in South Ari atoll, Republic of Maldives and identify any correlation between the observed Dhigurah tides and the predicted tides at Malé, based […]

This is the first peer reviewed analysis paper that MWSRP produced, from observations during the early days of the Programme, 2006 – 2008. Our understanding has developed considerably since then, though some of the fundamental findings, specifically gender bias and average size remain remarkably close to the what we currently know with nearly 8 times […]

The MWSRP understand that the more you know about the world’s biggest fish, the more pleasure you will get from your whale shark experience. MWSRP have created a quick guide, covering some basic information on the current population size, gender bias and how to identify male or female whale sharks, average sizes, how to take identification […]

Over two seasons in 2011 and 2012, the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme logged all sightings of marine megafauna during the course of their whale shark search transects within the South Ari atoll Marine Protected Area. The species, exact location and number of individuals were recorded at each encounter, with surface weather conditions being noted […]