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Ocean & Coastal Management 80 (2013) 100e106

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Ocean & Coastal Management

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A preliminary study on the feasibility of whale shark (Rhincodon typus)ecotourism in Taiwan

Felicia A. Cruz a, Shoou-Jeng Joung a,b,*, Kwang-Ming Liu b,c, Hua-Hsun Hsu a,b, Tzu-Chi Hsieh a

aDepartment of Environmental Biology and Fisheries Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, TaiwanbGeorge Chen Shark Research Center, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwanc Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Available online 21 May 2013

* Corresponding author. Department of EnvironmScience, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung24622192x5039; fax: þ886 2 24623986.

E-mail addresses: sandbarshark@hotmail.com(S.-J. Joung).

0964-5691/$ e see front matter � 2013 Elsevier Ltd.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2013.03.017

a b s t r a c t

Whale shark, the largest fish in the world, has been concerned by many environmental groups and hasbeen included on the CITES Appendix II list since 2002. Taiwan has taken a series management measureson whale shark since 2000 including catch quota and size limit and has banned fishing since 2008 foreffective management and conservation of this species. Some countries that fished for whale sharks havedeveloped their ecotourism as an alternative income earner. However, this alternative utilization hasnever been evaluated in Taiwan. Hence this study is to examine the feasibility of whale shark ecotourismin Taiwan. Based on averaged catch per unit effort (CPUE), Pingtung (PT) and Penghu (PH) were identifiedas the highest potential hot-spots for ecotourism development. March to June was identified to be thebest season for this activity based on occurrence of whale sharks in Taiwan waters. PH and PT had thehighest CPUE, adequately shallow sea depth, accessible transportation, lodging and dining facilities, andother established tourism activities adding to its suitability. Questionnaires for tourists visiting and setnet operators in PT and PH demonstrated that the majority welcomed whale shark ecotourism. In orderto successfully develop this highly lucrative activity, the participation and collaboration betweenstakeholders, government and non-governmental organizations should be achieved.

� 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Thewhale shark, Rhincodon typus, the largest fish in the world isharmless and gentle (Compagno, 2001; Smith, 1828). Its commonlyreported length ranges from 4 to 12m (Norman and Stevens, 2007).It is dark graywith horizontal and vertical white dots on its dorsal, acheckered board pattern, which is thought to be an identificationpattern distinguishing them individually (Arzoumanian et al.,2005; Last and Stevens, 1994; Norman, 1999). It grows slowly,lives up to 100 years and matures late at 30 years (Colman, 1997;Stevens, 2007; Wintner, 2000). This small-toothed filter feedingshark primarily feeds on planktons or small nektonic preys(Colman, 1997; Nelson and Eckert, 2007; Stevens, 2007). Whalesharks have been spotted near shore in many coastal nations andhave been tracked in the open ocean (Hsu et al., 2007).

ental Biology and Fisheries20224, Taiwan. Tel.: þ886 2

, f0010@mail.ntou.edu.tw

All rights reserved.

There was no dedicated fishery for whale sharks in Taiwan, stillthey were commonly caught in the past two decades due to theirhigh market value as high as US$10.0/kg for whole fish. Whalesharks are slow swimmers and are found near the surface, whichleading to their capture by set nets or harpoons in Taiwan (Chenand Phipps, 2002; Chen et al., 1997). In 2001, a fishery manage-ment scheme was initiated in Taiwan due to the significant declineof whale shark catch from 1995 to 1998 (Chen et al., 1997; Hsu et al.,2012). A series of management measures for whale sharks has beenimposed including the establishment of an advisory committee forshark conservation and management in 2000, a catch and reportsystem in 2001, setting the total allowable catch (TAC) and size limitsystem since 2002, and a complete ban fishing in 2008 (Hsu et al.,2012). Additionally, international groups such as IUCN, CITES, andUNCLOS have included the whale shark on their conservation lists(CITES, 2002; IUCN, 2011; UNCLOS, 1982).

Over the past two decades there has been a boom in water-based tourism making Ningaloo Marine Park, Australia thepioneer for whale shark ecotourism (WSE) (Newman andMedcraft,2002). After its inception in Australia, Belize, Seychelles andMexico, the ban fishing of whale sharks have been executed inMaldives, Philippines, Honduras and Thailand, which commenced

F.A. Cruz et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 80 (2013) 100e106 101

with WSE development (Dearden et al., 2008; Norman, 2004;Newman and Medcraft, 2002). WSE activities are accessible andpredictable due to the whale shark’s docile nature, relatively slowmovement, migration patterns and feeding behavior which areusually seasonal feeding behavior (Clark and Nelson,1997; Graham,2004; Heyman et al., 2001). Most WSE activities involve the tour-ists’ direct participation to snorkel or dive, compared to othertourism activities in Taiwan such as whale watching where par-ticipants remain onboard. The WSE activities of Australia, Belizeand the Philippines are fairly similar and include snorkeling withthe shark, certified scuba diving or free diving and/or onboardobservation of the shark.

The Western Australia’s Department of Conservation and LandManagement (CALM) Code of Conduct is a management tool usedto monitor and control the interactions of tourists with the whaleshark and is adopted and/or modified bymost countries having thisecotourism (Norman, 2004; Pierce et al., 2010; Quiros, 2007). Tourshighlight the current knowledge, conservation concerns, rules andguidelines, and how tourists can participate in research of thewhale shark (Norman, 2005). Associated activities include coralwatching, sea exploration, fish identification and land basedentertainment activities. The conservative value per sighting hasreached up to US$350, from US$34,905 to US$277,860 per indi-vidual shark, and from US$208,000 (Philippines) to US$6,109,225(Australia) in annual income (Graham, 2004; Norman and Catlin,2007). Noteworthy, countries that have WSE either contributedactively to the conservation of the species, included local commu-nities in its planning, development and operation, and promotededucational successes and international awareness of the whaleshark to visitors (Cárdenas-Torres et al., 2007; Catlin et al., 2010,2012; Jones et al., 2009; Quiros, 2005).

Although the whale shark fishery has been banned in Taiwansince 2008, the alternative utilizatione ecotourism, has never beenevaluated. Hence, this study is to examine the feasibility of WSE inTaiwan. It is hope that the results derived from this study can beused as a reference for initiating WSE activity in Taiwan.

Fig. 1. Set net (C) distributed in Taiwanese coastal water. YL (Yilan), HL (Hualien), andTT (Taitung) as east Taiwan (ET). PT (Pingtung) and PH (Penghu) as southwest Taiwan(SWT). MH (Miaoli and Hsinchu) as northwest Taiwan (NWT). Number of set nets inparentheses.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. Site selection and season

Set nets are the only method still used to retrieve fishing andbiological information from thewhale shark, only information fromset nets were used to determine the feasibility of the WSE inTaiwan. The whale shark set net landing, catch and release datafrom 2001 to 2008 and tagging data for 2009 were obtained andused to identify the potential hot-spot(s) and season for WSE bytabulating the total number of whale sharks caught from 2001 to2008 and tagged in 2009 against their respective regional locations.In addition, the consecutive months that correlated with thehighest number of whale sharks were selected as the top season forWSE.

The catch per unit effort (CPUE) is an indirect measure of theabundance of a target species. It does not interfere with routineharvesting operations, and data area easily collected. The CPUE ofwhale sharks from set nets in 6 regions off the coast of Taiwan wasidentified (Hsu et al., 2012). The mean annual CPUE was calculatedas the number of whale sharks caught (WS) divided by the numberof set nets (SNT) for each region, and then divided by the totalnumber of years.

CPUE ¼ WS=SNT

The catch data illustrated higher catches in the east coast ofTaiwan, but the mean annual CPUE were lower in those regions

contrasted to higher CPUE in the west coast of Taiwan. Taking intoconsideration that the CPUE was higher in the west, PT and PHhaving the highest CPUE were selected as the better habitats andhot-spots for the development ofWSE in Taiwan. Zhu Keng (PT) andSuo Gang (PH) are the specific set net locations determined.

A total of 65 set nets are operated in the coastal waters of Taiwan(Hsu et al., 2012). These set nets can be categorized into 3 divisionsbased on their geographic locations; Yilan (YL), Hualien (HL) andTaitung (TT) as east Taiwan (ET), Pingtung (PT) and Penghu (PH) assouthwest Taiwan (SWT), and Miaoli/Hsinchu (MH) as northwestTaiwan (NWT) (Fig. 1). The strengths, weaknesses, opportunitiesand threats of the regional set net zones were evaluated with aSWOT analysis to identify current and future potentials/risks in alllocations.

2.2. Market analysis

2.2.1. Questionnaire design and distributionAfter the site and season were determined, 2 questionnaires

were designed to collect specific information from 2 importantstakeholders, 80 tourists and 5 set net operators, in the tourism andfisheries sector. The purpose of both questionnaires was to analyzewhether or not WSE, if developed in Taiwan in those areas specif-ically, would be welcomed by the 2 groups. Questionnaires weredistributed to tourists and set net operators from 20th to 25th June2010. On the first 3 days questionnaires were randomly/opportu-nistically distributed in PT at tourism located areas namely, KentingMuseum ofMarine Biology and Aquaculture, Chuan Fan Rock, SouthBay beach, Fang Liao, Hou Bi Hu, Chu Keng, scuba diving shops andKenting airport. On the last 3 days questionnaires were randomly/opportunistically distributed in PH at tourism located areas namely,

Table 1Whale sharks landing, catch and release data by region in Taiwan waters from 2001 to 2008.

Region Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Total No. of set neta CPUEa

TT 11 8 13 9 9 5 e e 1 2 1 1 60 8 0.94YL 16 7 9 20 27 10 1 e e 1 4 10 105 26 0.50HL 9 19 22 24 15 16 8 4 3 3 1 14 138 17 1.01PT 2 3 3 3 5 3 e e e e e 1 20 2 1.25PH e e 2 4 17 13 3 e 1 3 1 e 44 5 1.10MH e e 4 1 e 4 e 1 e e e e 10 7 0.18Total 38 37 53 61 73 51 12 5 5 9 7 26 377 65 0.73

CPUE, catch per unit effort (individuals per set per year); YL, Yilan; HL, Hualien; TT, Taitung; PT, Pingtung; PH, Penghu; MH, Miaoli and Hsinchu.a Data from Hsu et al. (2012). Source: Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries Science, National Taiwan Ocean University, Taiwan.

F.A. Cruz et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 80 (2013) 100e106102

Penghu Aquarium, Penghu tourist information area, Penghuairport, Aimen beach, scuba diving shops and other tourism loca-tions. 20 and 5 tourist questionnaires were left with a scuba divinginstructor in PT and PH, respectively, and were later retrieved foranalysis.

2.2.2. Data input and analysisThe data collected from questionnaires were further analyzed

using Pearson’s Chi square test (X2) to investigate whether distri-butions of the categorical variables differ fromone another. The nullhypothesis (Ho) supports the claim that there is no significant dif-ference among categories. The formula used is demonstratedbelow, where O is the observed frequency and E is the expected(theoretic) frequency, asserted by the null hypothesis.

X2 ¼X ðO� EÞ2

E

3. Results

3.1. Site selection and season

The whale sharks were caught by set nets in Taiwanese coastalwaters in all months of the year from 2001 to 2008 and the highestnumber of reported catch in all regions, except MH was in May(Table 1). Other months that had experienced higher catch rateincludes March, April and June. The whale sharks tagged in 2009were present at least once in all the months of the year. The highestnumber of occurrence in all regions, except TT was in May (Table 2).In addition, the region with the highest number of occurrence wasPH with a total of 10 whale sharks over the reported year, followedby HL and PT respectively (Table 2).

Collectively, the results of the SWOT analysis identified over-lapping environmental, social and economical conditions. More-over, there were overlapping strengths and weaknesses among allregional categories (Table 3). However, there was added strengthsobserved in SWT and there were more weaknesses observed in ETand NWT which were mostly environmental, compared to SWTwhich was economical. Most opportunities identified have thepotential to come into effect for all regional categories, which were

Table 2Whale shark tagging data by region in Taiwan waters during 2009.

Region Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

TT 2 e 2 3 e e

YL e 5 10 2 3 1HL 4 2 4 1 6 e

PT e e 2 1 5 1PH e e 2 2 10 2MH e 1 1 3 1 e

Total 6 8 21 12 25 4

YL, Yilan; HL, Hualien; TT, Taitung; PT, Pingtung; PH, Penghu; MH, Miaoli and Hsinchu. SoOcean University, Taiwan.

highlighted as either educational, cooperation or implementing.Additionally, ET has the potential to develop onboard observationof whale sharks and SWT has the potential to improve the socio-economic status of stakeholders and/or local businesses in the area.The possibility that tourists may not see the whale shark at everytrip and experiencing a shift toward tourism for commercial gainrather from the initial inception of WSE for its protection andconservation are two overlapping potential threats highlighted inall regional categories. The higher cost to travel to PH and WSEaffecting the fishermen/set net operators’ income in NWT and ETare additional threats for those specific areas.

3.2. Questionnaire results

A total of 80 tourists from PT and 125 from PH successfullycompleted the tourist questionnaire. The majority was Taiwanesebetween the ages of 18e30 years that visited both regions primarilyfor recreation. All results obtained from PT and PH showed nosignificant difference among categorical price ranges, where thecritical value skewed beyond the values within the Pearson’s Chisquared test table illustrating a significant bias toward paymentranges of the lowest category (Table 4). The mean price from allrespondents of willing to pay for snorkeling activities was NT$2900(wUS$97) in both areas. The mean price for children’s snorkelingactivity was about NT$2600 (wUS$87), which is a little less thanthat for adults. The mean price of willing to pay for diving activitieswas NT$4000 (wUS$134) in PT and NT$3900 (wUS$130) in PH.

If tourists did not see a whale shark on the trip, majority wouldstill return (Table 5) to PT and PH in hopes to see one and it is notconsiderably important if theywere refunded or not (Table 5). Mosttourists in PT and PH were positive about the impacts of WSE inTaiwan, either agreeing or strongly agreeing that the developmentof WSE or as a co-activity in Taiwan will aid in protecting thespecies and creating awareness of its conservation efforts and thatit will bring in more income in Taiwan (Table 6).

Only 5 set net operators responded to the questionnaire, 2 fromPT and 3 from PH, which would not significantly determine thegeneral perspectives of most set net operators in both locations.However, a few responses are still noteworthy. All set net operatorsmentioned that whale sharks have been incidentally trapped inside

Jul Sep Oct Nov Dec Total

1 e e 1 6 15e e e 3 e 24e 1 1 1 e 202 e e e e 11e e e e e 16e e e e e 63 1 1 5 6 92

urce: Department of Environmental Biology and Fisheries Science, National Taiwan

Table 3SWOT analysis of east, northwest and southwest Taiwan for whale shark ecotourism.

East Taiwan NorthwestTaiwan

Southwest Taiwan

Strengths 1. A season is determined (MarcheJune)2. Warm sea surface temperature from MarcheJune (OCW)3. There are many tourism activities, accessible transportation, restaurants and hotels (pers. obsv.)4. Internationally important/endangered species

1. Coral cover present2. Highest CPUE3. Depth <60 m4. 7 SN

Weaknesses 1. Locations are near fishing/SN zones2. There is no established WSE program and management framework3. Untrained WS tour operators4. Low visibility, 2e3 m visibility from shark (pers. obsv.)5. Tourists may not see the whale shark every time1. Poor coral cover2. Depth >200 m3. Low CPUE (except HL)4. 51 SN5. Strong current

1. No coral cover2. Depth 60

e80 m3. Lowest CPUE4 7 SN

1. Flight/ship required to travel to PH2. High domestic transportation cost

Opportunities 1. Provide and promote education and conservative efforts about the WS2. Encourage participation and collaboration of stakeholders, government and nongovernmental organizations3. Development and implementation of new strategies, WSE monitoring program, legislation, management and operation framework4. Collaboration with other programs- WS tagging program, Coral reef monitoring program, etc.1. Probable WS onboard observation

activity1. Improve socio-economic status of stakeholders/local enterprise

Threats 1. Shift from WSE for its protection to tourism for commercial gain1. Affect the current economical condition of set net op-

erators/fishermen

OCW, Ocean color web; CPUE, catch per unit area; <, less than; m, meters; #, number; SN, set net; WS, whale shark; E, ecotourism; >, greater than; HL, Hualien; PH, Penghu.

Table 5Tourists’ response for not seeing whale sharks in the whale shark ecotourism.

Location Response Revisiting willingness Refund expectation

PT Yes 54 35No 26 45

PH Yes 90 70No 35 55

PT, Pingtung; PH, Penghu; WS, whale shark.

F.A. Cruz et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 80 (2013) 100e106 103

their set nets and were present near the surface for over 10 min. Setnet operators in PT and PH responded that there were 5e10 and10e15 whale sharks, respectively, that swam into their set netsduring March to June 2011. If ever developed, the charge range forconducting WSE activities would be at the lowest possible range.All were willing to hire tour operators and noted that 60e80 min issufficient time to conduct tour operations. In addition, none ofthem owned a recreational vessel. However, 3 considered buying arecreational vessel, and one considered modifying their fishingvessel for tour operations. Most set net operators strongly agreedthat the success rate of tourists seeing the whale shark would behigher if thewhale sharkwas temporarily trapped inside the set netand were positive about the impacts of WSE in Taiwan. Lastly, 2 setnet operators suggested that the current fisheries laws must beregulated in order to endorse this activity and 2 recommended thatthe government should provide some financial aid toward thedevelopment of this activity.

4. Discussion

4.1. Whale shark ecotourism potential

In the present study, we have shown that Taiwan did have thepotential to develop WSE industry. PT and PH were selected as the

Table 4The price of willing to pay for different whale shark activities.

Activity Location Price (SN/DV, in NTD)

2400/3375 3000/4125 3600/4875 4200/5625

SN-Adults PT 30 21 11 4PH 57 40 13 11

SN-Children PT 24 9 2 1PH 60 6 5 1

DV-Adults PT 41 13 9 10PH 63 32 14 9

PT, Pingtung; PH, Penghu; SN, Snorkeling; DV, Scuba Diving.

hot-spots since they have higher CPUE and more encouragingenvironmental, social and economical factors than the other re-gions which were taken into consideration, in that safety andstructure are key concerns toward development. Taiwan posses’high production of various marine resources and contain manycoral reefs around the island and islets. A healthy coral reef systemindicates a healthy marine ecosystem which plays an importantrole in its sustenance. In PH, the coral cover is considered high, but adecline in hard coral abundance was observed near Kenting Na-tional Park, PT (Dai et al., 2004; Kuo et al., 2012). The total coralcoverage rate in PT was decreased from 45% to 18% between 2005and 2010 (Kuo et al., 2012), but the occurrence of whale sharks wasrelatively stable in PT (Hsu et al., 2012). As in the case of Australia’sdeclining population of whale sharks due to a significant damage ofcoral cover by a gastropod species (Norman, 2004; Taylor, 1996). In

Table 6Tourists’ response from the questionnaire about whale shark ecotourism benefits forTaiwan.

Strongly agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly disagree

(a) WSE-Increase conservationPT 36 38 5 1 0PH 41 66 18 0 0(b) WSE-Increase foreign incomePT 35 39 5 1 0PH 51 61 12 1 0

F.A. Cruz et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 80 (2013) 100e106104

addition, mass coral spawning of a scleractinian coral occurred insouthern Taiwan during spring time, which also coincides with thewhale shark appearance in and around SWT (Twan et al., 2003).Similarly, the northeast monsoon begins in October and increasesin intensity through winter and early spring to April, causes a deepconvective mixing, creating higher chlorophyll-a concentrations inET, which lead to an abundance of copepods and ichthyoplankton,the prey of whale sharks (Chen et al., 2006; Compagno, 2001; Hsiehet al., 2005). Sea surface temperature (SST) fronts occurring in thesouthern East China Sea and Taiwan Strait also produce higherlevels of chlorophyll a in winter (Chang et al., 2006, 2008).

In SWT, fishermen reported that whale sharks were moreabundant than 20 years ago, where as many as 84 whale sharkswere present within a year (Chen et al., 1997). This informationsuggests that the SWT has been and still is a targeted area for whaleshark occurrence. Whale sharks are in Taiwan almost all year, butdo not appear in all regional locations every month. In fact, thewhale sharks are more prevalent during spring time with the peakoccurring in May. Taiwan now lies among countries like Belize,Australia, Thailand and Indonesia that all have the similar whaleshark season (Stacey et al., 2012; Quiros, 2005). The retrieving ofinformation from identification tags (if available), taking photo-graphs of their skin pattern, identifying tourists’ compliance to theCode of Conduct, identifying the whale sharks’ behavior during theactivity and monitoring the number of whale sharks in each areacan be included in the current whale shark conservation andtagging program to aid researchers in discovering new findingsabout the shark.

4.2. Recommendations

WSE is still a business and there are considerations that must bereviewed and if necessary, changed to satisfy the conditions ofeffective management. In this case, the management establishedmust satisfy the conservation conditions and provide the consumerproduct simultaneously with the least possible impacts on thewhale shark, environment and visitors. A profitable ecotourismactivity can be developed by incorporating other activities alongwith WSE such as exploring the area, observing set net operations,and purchasing of fresh fishes. Furthermore, an educational andhistorical background of whale sharks in Taiwan’s coast can also beincluded, along with highlighting and explaining the importance ofthe Code of Conduct. In addition, Divers with an advanced level ofexperience are often willing to pay more and go to specific desti-nations (Jones et al., 2009). Develop of unique package ecotourismmay interest more particular tourists in Taiwan. A survey done in2009 reported that the largest group of visitors that went toAustralia for WSE came from Japan, which is closer to and can be apotential target group for Taiwan (Catlin and Jones, 2009).

We provided five recommendations as follows:

� Official management;� Development of a local Code of Conduct;� Licenses for tour operators;� Suitable price for WSE;� Sea pen WSE.

4.2.1. Official managementWhale shark dive zone needs to be established to properly

create a safe environment for tourists. The SWOT analysis and sitevisiting result demonstrate that WSE development is technicallyfeasible in these areas, Zhu Keng in PT and Suo Gang in PH.Responsible authority must be created to oversee the managementof WSE in Taiwan. Both Belize and Philippines have shared

responsible authority with their government and a nongovern-mental organization (Quiros, 2005). A memorandum of under-standing should be created to highlight the roles and responsibilityacquired or shared by both. Annual reviews must be done by theresponsible authority to examine the progress of the industry,highlight problems faced and develop strategies to combat them.

4.2.2. Development of local Code of ConductStrong debate currently exists on whether shark ecotourism

may alter sharks’ behavior and/or incur ecosystem-level conse-quences (Gallagher and Hammerschlag, 2011). The development ofa local Code of Conduct or adaptation andmodification of the initialCode of Conduct is compulsory. The low visibility of Taiwan watersmay affects implementing the regulated distance (3 m) fromCALM’s Code of Conduct; changing it to 2 m is essential for theexperience to be successful. Trained tour operators shall ensureproper monitoring and recording of tourist compliance whenswimming. According to Pierce et al. (2010)’s describe, we regulatethe distance between tour boat and whale shark to >20 m, whichdistance avoidance behavior of whale sharks is not observed. Themodification of Code of Conduct can be discussed in annual reviewconference.

4.2.3. Licenses for tour operatorsMore effort is required for proper planning to accommodate set

net operators/fisher folks that can be affected or are interested inengaging in the activity. The lack of government limits has created ahigh concentration of tour operators within the whale sharkviewing area, and caused the conflict among the tour operators(Ziegler et al., 2012). To avoid crowding issues, training and limitedlicenses initially for 3 operators in each location is recommended.More licenses can be issued after the review on an annual basis.Stipulate participants must have basic skills in swimming, using asnorkel, and divers must be certified. Life vest are highly recom-mended for each person. Furthermore, the suggested number ofparticipants per boat is 4e6 persons at any one time per shark inorder to circumvent the whale shark’s avoidance behavior.

4.2.4. Suitable price for WSEAccording to this research, a suitable price per activity would

range between NT$2500eNT$3000 (US$84eUS$100) andNT$3500eNT$4000 (US$117eUS$134) for snorkeling and diving,respectively.

4.2.5. Sea pen WSESpecial consideration and implementation is needed to move

the whale shark from the set net to a sea pen for a determinedperiod of time in a day. This violates Taiwan’s current Fisheries Act(Section 44, Paragraph 2). However, interaction has been encour-aged for tagging and taking photos of its skin pattern. According tosatellite transmissions, after 10 weeks the whale sharks appearedto still be fine (Todorova, 2009). In Taiwan, few whale sharks hadbeen tagged and released and would swim back into the same setnet (Hsu, pers. comm.). A similar WSE activity was operated innearshore of Okinawa, Japan. The set net proprietors kept whalesharks in the sea pen as an ocean ranch, tourists can snorkeling inthe surface or scuba diving inside the sea penwith them. (Hsu, pers.comm.; Top marine company website, http://www.topmarine.jpn.com/). There are many ethical considerations associated with themaintenance of animals in a captive environment. In aquariums,they ensure that all animal exhibits and husbandry procedures areethically sound, not only because it is appropriate, but also becauseof a growing public awareness and concern for all animals incaptive environments (Choromanski, 2004). In this case, we assureocean ranching with whale sharks can offer a better/larger captive

F.A. Cruz et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 80 (2013) 100e106 105

environment than rearing in artificial tanks. If the law is amended,the regulatory body will need to include safety measures added toan updated Code of Conduct for whale shark operations high-lighting safety concerns in that all snorkelers must wear a lifejackets inside the sea pen, the whale shark cannot be confined inthe sea pen over 24 h and tourists are prohibited from feeding thewhale shark.

5. Conclusion

Despite the whale shark’s wide distribution, highly migratorynature and dependence on healthy feeding locations to sustain itshuge appetite, their presence inTaiwanwaters confirms that there isan immense production of marine resources which attracts whaleshark occurrence along the coast. The hot-spots for WSE in Taiwanhave been identified as PT (Zhu Keng) and PH (Suo Gang). In addi-tion, the whale shark season has been determined from March toJune. The results of the SWOTanalysis promoted the development ofWSE in both locations, where the strengths for PT and PH addedconsiderably toward its endorsement. Many opportunities towardeducation, collaboration, management, development and financialimprovements were presented as an added incentive toward thisactivity. Furthermore, both locations contain accessible trans-portation, numerous lodging and dining facilities, and other estab-lished tourism activities adding to the suitability of these areas.

The development of WSE is an activity being welcomed bystakeholders that responded to the questionnaires and would liketo engage further if it is affordable, still promotion and education isrecommended to keep them interested and knowledgeable of thisspecies and the activity. Furthermore, the development of a Code ofConduct or adaptation and modification of the initial Code ofConduct is compulsory. Finally, the successful development of thisactivity would be greater achieved if the other associated activitiesmentioned are combined with the whale shark activity. In addition,the revision and modification of the current whale shark moni-toring system and legislation, a strategic management framework,the participation and collaboration between stakeholders, gov-ernment and non-governmental organizations should be achievedin order to successfully establish this highly lucrative activity.

Acknowledgments

We thank A. C. Chen for his help on logistics in Penghu. Also, wethank the Taiwanese set nets owners and staff for their help inwhale shark data collection. We appreciate Taiwan ICDF, and thisstudy was funded by Fisheries Agency, Taiwan, R. O. C. (grants o.FA90-145-F1-15, FA91-251-F1-23, FA92-911-F1-5, FA93-911-F1-12,FA94-1411-F1-11, and FA95-1411-F2-2).

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